


Those Who Traveled

by lastoftheorder



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, F/M, Family, Good Dad Jack, M/M, Minor Body Horror, Minor Character Death, Sexual Encounters, Torture, friendships, minor gore, tags updated as i go, what if
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2019-12-26 23:05:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18292037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastoftheorder/pseuds/lastoftheorder
Summary: After the events of the vault of the Traveler, Fiona and Rhys open the treasure inside only to find themselves transported to an alternate world, one where Hyperion still reins on Pandora with a ruthless CEO. Their only hope of getting back to their own universe lies in a man who was once their enemy; Handsome Jack.As Fiona and Rhys find themselves on an adventure to reopen the vault of the traveler, they find themselves joining in the struggles of a handsome hero desperate to regain his lost family while also saving the world.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am SOOOOO Freaking excited for this work. Updates will be slow, unfortunately, but I promise; I never leave a work unfinished.
> 
> Please enjoy, and feel free to message me. I love talking about stuff!

As Rhys and Fiona touched the box, the stones came apart and floated up. Fiona instinctively grabbed Rhys’ hand as the world flashed with bright lights, and purple swirled around them. Fiona tried to speak, but the sound didn’t escape her lips. Then darkness engulfed them. 

Fiona opened her eyes and saw the back of a man going through his travel packs. It was sunset in the Pandoran desert. Fiona found her arms were tied behind her back, but if she could just wiggle enough maybe she could get them loose.

“You up?” The man asked. His voice sounded eerily familiar.

“Who are you?” she demanded. The man straightened up and turned to her.

“Handsome Jack…” she gasped. The man cocked his head. 

“Just Jack will do, although I don’t mind being called Handsome,” he said with a wink.

Fiona’s mind raced through several options. She could scream and yell at him, which is what she wanted to do, but she realized that would probably only give her trouble. On the other hand, she could play it cool and hope she could escape when his guard was down. 

“Alright, Jack…” she said, testing the bitter name on her tongue, “What am I doing here tied up?” 

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that. I had to make sure you weren’t some psychopath. Still not sure, though” he said. Fiona wanted to mention something about the irony in that statement, but Handsome Jack didn’t seem to recognize her. She decided she would play it cool until she could come up with a plan.

“I’m definitely not a psycho. Mind letting me go?” she asked. 

“Yeah, it’s going to take a lot more than that to convince me. Why don’t you answer a few questions for me so that II can decide for myself,” Jack said. Fiona resisted rolling her eyes. 

“This again,” she thought. Here she was tied up and expected to answer questions. The only thing that would make this complete would be if Rhys were here. She glanced over to her side, and sure enough the Atlas CEO was out cold and tied up beside her. 

“What do you want to know?” she asked. 

“Why were you in the Vault?” Jack asked. Fiona thought back. She remembered fighting the vault monster, and watching her friends scramble for treasure, talking with Rhys… and the opening the final chest.

“We’re Vault Hunters. We find Vaults,” she said.

“What was the treasure inside?”

“I-I’m not sure,” Fiona admitted, “We opened the chest,everything went black and purple, and then I woke up here,” 

Jack made an incredulous noise.

“So, no vault monster and no treasure?” he said, “Lame-ass vault.” 

“There was a monster until we kicked its ass. Any more questions?” 

“Don’t lie to me pumpkin to make yourself look better. I would have noticed a freaking Vault Monster getting killed. There’d at least be a body.” 

“How did you not see it? That thing was huge!” she said. 

“Listen, cupcake. I’m not sayin’ I don’t believe you, but i’m confused as hell. Things aren’t adding up. There’s no Vault Monster, there’s no signs of a fight, and this Vault showed up randomly only a few hours ago with you two inside and no friggin’ loot.” 

“Let me guess, you also didn’t see a giant robot.”

“Nope.” 

Fiona looked up at the sky, hoping that she could find some guidance in the starry night. Instead, her vision was struck with a familiar and terrifying sight. Hanging in the sky was a giant ‘H’ blocking the glow of Elpis. 

“Wh-What- Helios?” she asked, her skin prickling. Jack looked up with her and let out a sigh. 

“Yup, old Hyperion jackasses themselves. You scared of it or something, kitten?” 

“But- Helios crashed”

“I think I would have noticed that one, too,” Jack mused. Fiona was growing angry.

“What sort of sick game are you playing?” Fiona demanded. 

“Hey, I’m not playing any games. You’re the one talking nonsense, princess,” Jack said, “Geez, did you hit your head or something?” 

“I wouldn’t know; I’ve been unconscious!” she snapped.

“Woah, cool down there, kitten! There’s no reason to be hostile!”

“I’m tied up!” 

“A guy’s got to protect himself here. You could have been Hyperion for all I knew, especially with that getup.” 

“And wouldn’t you have been pleased as freaking punch to have us working for you.” 

“What the hell are you talking about?” 

“Why are you playing stupid, Mr. Hyperion?” 

“What did you just call me?” Jack’s voice dropped low.

“Hy-per-ion. Big freaking Ceo hotshot of the whole thing, Handsome Jack himself! If you’re here to toy with us, just get it over with and kill us already.” 

Jack’s face switched from anger, to confusion, and finally settled into wonder as he ran his hand through his hair. 

“What the hell was in that Vault?” he said. Fiona was taken aback.

“You think the Vault had something to do with this?” she said. 

“I mean, yeah. I’m inclined to believe your not completely nuts, so what other solutions do we have here, princess?”

Fiona didn’t know, and frankly, that scared her. But if the Vault did have something to do with this, then she needed to find it to get back. She glanced over at Rhys, who was starting to stir.

“Rhys!” Fiona nudged him with her foot, hoping to get him to wake up. She was met with a groan in response. She kept kicking at him until finally Rhys opened his eyes. 

Rhys tried to shake the sleep out of his eyes, and took a good, long look at the man before him. Then he started screaming.

Jack jumped on the younger man faster than a skag on a tundra rabbit, clamping a hand over his mouth. 

“Do you want every bandit from here to the Fridge to know where we are?” Jack hissed. Rhys shook his head and fell silent. Jack removed his hand, however Rhys’ mouth continued to hang open. 

“It’s...It’s Handsome Jack,” he mumbled. Jack sighed and ran his hands over his masked face. He froze when he heard gunshots in the distance and groaned.

“Okay, kiddos, change of plans. Thanks to Mr. Screamer over here, we’ll have to move camp before we get ripped apart by bandits. I’m going to untie the two of you, and I would really appreciate if you two didn’t try to stab me in the back, cause I promise that won’t end pretty for you two. Dealio?” Jack looked at the two of them expectantly. 

Fiona saw potential. 

“Of course,” she agreed. Jack slipped out a knife and went beside her, swiftly cutting her bonds. He did the same to Rhys, then grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulder. 

“C’mon, we need to go,” he said, “We’ll head to those mountains; there’s a safe house over there.” 

“Are we really going to follow him?” Rhys hissed quietly to Fiona. 

“It’s either him or the bandits,” Fiona said, “And he knows where the Vault is; He may be our only way to get back.” 

Rhys nodded, and they broke into a run to catch up to Jack. As they ran, Fiona glanced back and saw a bandit technical cutting through the dusty earth towards them. 

“We’re not going to make it!” she cried. Jack skidded to a stop. 

“You guys keep running then; I’ll meet you there!” he said, digistructing a rocket launcher from his backpack. Fiona and Rhys didn’t hesitate as their legs pumped against the dusty earth. They ignored the gunshots and explosions behind them. 

They reached the mountain and found an iron door cut into the rock. Rhys pulled it open, and he and Fiona scrambled inside, shutting it and setting the deadbolts. 

They took a moment to catch their breath before taking in the surroundings. The safehouse was small, but it had two vending machines and several ammo boxes scattered throughout. 

“How many bandits do you think were out there?” Fiona asked. 

“Hopefully enough to kill Jack,” Rhys spat, “How is that bastard still alive?” 

“I think it had to do with the Vault; I don’t think we’re in our world anymore,” Fiona said, “Jack is alive, Helios is still in the sky, no one saw the Traveler”

“So the Vault of the Traveler took us to another freaking dimension?”

“I think so, but Rhys, I don’t think Jack’s the same one from our world.” she said. 

Rhys snorted. 

“Really? He looks like the same psychopath with a face mask to me.” 

“I’m not saying we should become buddy-buddy with him, but he clearly doesn’t want us dead, so that’s hopeful at least.”

“That’s not much to go on; Jack kept me alive just so he could get a new human meat suit. He’s playing with us, Fiona.” 

“Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, he’s our best chance to get back to the Vault. I don’t know where we are, or where the Vault is, but he does. Just try not to piss him off until I can get more information out of him. If he survives the bandits, that is.”

A few moments later, there was a sharp knock at the door. 

“Hey, I’m back, cupcake! Mind letting me in?” Jack’s voice cut through. Rhys looked at Fiona, shaking his head. Fiona ignored Rhys and undid the deadbolts. Jack strolled in with a gun slung over his shoulder and a smile on his lips. 

“Nothin’ better than showing those bandits who’s boss,” he said. He tossed his gun and backpack to the side and sat on one of the ammo boxes. He went through his pockets and pulled out a couple of wrapped protein bars. 

“You guys hungry?” he asked, ripping one of them open and taking a bite, “Cause I’m friggin’ starving.” 

Rhys huffed, but Fiona wanted to play this out, keeping the peace. 

“Yeah, I could use something to eat.” 

Jack tossed her a bar and she bit into it. It was thick and tasteless, and left her mouth parched. 

“You got something to drink?” she coughed. Jack barked a laugh. 

“First time eating one of those things? They’re crap, right?” Jack went to his pack and pulled out a waterskin, handing it to Fiona who took a grateful sip. The water tasted stale, but it did its job. 

“Rhys, you want some?” she offered. 

“Let’s wait a few minutes and see how it settles.” Rhys said. 

“You’re a paranoid one, aren’t you?” Jack noted, “Smart move, here on Pandora, but look, Kiddo, I’m not here to kill you. Not when I could use your help.”

“Our help?” Fiona asked. 

“Yeah, I have big plans, but I need allies. Think we could help each other, pumpkin?”

“What’s the deal?” she asked.

“I wanna tear Hyperion a new asshole, and heaven knows we can use all the Vault Hunters we can get to pull it off. If you’re interested, of course.” Jack said, “If not, Sanctuary will take you in anyways and they can work on finding you guys a way back to...Well, wherever you came from.” 

“Sanctuary?” Fiona’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “The birthplace of the Hyperion resistance? Home of the Crimson Raiders? The Flying City?” 

“I don’t know about ‘Flying City’, but yeah, Crimson Raider headquarters.” Jack tapped a patch on the shoulder of his worn jacket. Fiona hadn’t noticed it before, but sure enough, he was wearing the Crimson Raider logo. 

“What the hell…” Rhys breathed. 

“Why not use the Vault as leverage? Promise to take us back if we help you?” Fiona asked, her eyes narrowing. 

“Look, I’d take you back to the Vault if I could, but we’d need more resources than I have to reopen it.” 

“What do you mean? It closed?” 

“Yeah, I barely got you guys out in time before the thing went dead. It’s nothing more than a stone arch right now.”

“Why’d you pull us out?” Rhys said. 

“I’ve seen what happens when someone gets exposed to the Vault for too long. Call it my bleeding friggin’ heart, but I wasn’t about to let that happen to someone else.” 

“You have one?” Rhys muttered. Jack ignored the comment. 

“What makes you think Sanctuary has the resources to get us back?” Fiona asked. 

“I don’t, but it’s the best I can offer you. Or you can help me, and if all goes according to plan you can have all the resources Hyperion has to offer. Or, at least all the ones that matter.” 

“Why do you want to tear apart Hyperion?” Rhys asked. 

“Personal reasons, kiddo.” Jack said, “Now, do you two have names or anything?” 

“I’m Fiona, and my companion here is Rhys,” Fiona said.

“It’s nice to meet you two; now, If you don’t mind, I am exhausted from hauling your dumb asses out of the Vault, so I’m going to get some shut-eye. You try to stab me in the back, or steal from me, you’re dead,” he said. He shifted into a more comfortable position, tilted his head back, and after only a few minutes, he began to snore. 

Rhys and Fiona looked at each other warily. 

“Do you think-?” Rhys began.

“Yeah,” Fiona said.

“What’s the plan?” 

“The plan?” 

“Yeah. You seemed to know what you were doing back there. So, you’ve got a plan?” he asked. 

“I don’t know,” Fiona admitted, “I’m way out of my element here.” Rhys put a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“Fiona, you always follow your instincts. What are your instincts tell you here?” Rhys asked. 

“They’re telling me we should trust him. I know, it’s stupid, but I can’t help shake the feeling that he’s our only hope of getting back home.” 

“It’s not stupid, Fiona. I might not trust him, but I trust you. I’ll follow your lead on this,” he said. Fiona smiled. 

“Alright, so the plan is we follow him until he takes us to Sanctuary, where we will part ways and find a new way home.” Fiona said. 

“It’s a plan then. I’ll watch your back, and you watch mine?” Rhys asked. Fiona smiled at him. 

“You want the rest of my protein bar? I can’t finish the thing,” she said, offering the half eaten wrapper. Rhys took it and bit in, nearly spitting it out. 

“Man that tastes like shit!” he said, “Who would have thought Handsome Jack would be chowing down on this stuff?”

“Yeah. It’s nothing like how I pictured the great Hyperion CEO outside of propaganda posters.” 

“He- This one is kinda different, too,” Rhys said, “He looks worn out, wilder somehow. Still looks like a complete asshole though, just with a different pair of shoes.” He gestured to the boots that Jack wore. 

“Wait, what did he wear before?” 

“Tennis shoes. Man, I can’t believe I used to admire this guy,” Rhys shook his head. 

“Neither can I,” Fiona laughed.

“You sure your instincts say ‘trust’ and not ‘shoot him in the back with his own gun’?” Rhys asked.

“Yup, but I’m not ruling that option out just yet.” Fiona winked, “Now, I think it might be best if we get some sleep in before handsome douchebag over there wakes up.” 

“You can go to sleep. I don’t think I can- too nervous about our new friend over there,” Rhys said. Fiona said. 

“Suit yourself,” she settled herself against the wall, “Hey, Rhys?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Thanks for having my back.” 

“Thanks for having mine, Fiona. Out of all people, I’m glad I got stuck in a parallel dimension with you.”

“Me too.”


	2. Trials to Safety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To continue on with their journey, Rhys and Fiona need to trust Jack and get through a den of wild skags.

Fiona and Rhys woke up to a sharp boot in their sides. 

“Hey, rise and shine kiddos, up and at ‘em.” Jack said. Fiona looked in disgust at the pool of drool on her shoulder from Rhys who brushed the side of his lips. 

“Heh, sorry Fiona,” he said. Fiona curled her lip in disgust. Yeah, that part was familiar from their trip with the stranger as well. At least they didn’t wake up tied up this time. The two stood up and stretched as Jack waited for them with crossed arms. 

“You two kittens done stretching? Cause we’ve got a long way to get to the nearest catch-a-ride and only a few hours of night left. Let’s get going, chop chop!” 

Rhys and Fiona followed Jack into the cool Pandora night, taking in the sea of stars that stretched the expanse of the deadly desert. Jack went on ahead of them as Rhys stared up at the sky. 

“One thing I’ll never get used to here on Pandora; the day and night cycles,” Rhys said quietly as trailed behind Jack. Fiona shrugged. 

“I lived underground for most of it, always living in some perpetual twilight.” Fiona admitted, “I’ve also never known anything different.” 

“Why couldn’t the vault have taken us somewhere nicer? It could have dumped us in Aquator instead of an alternate version of this backwater planet.” Rhys grumbled. 

“Hey, at least we’re alive and…” Fiona glanced over at Jack, “Relatively safe.” 

“You call being with him safe?”

“Relax, Rhys, I get the feeling we’re safer in his company than without it.” 

“We are talking about the same guy, right? The one that helped us till he got the chance to kill us himself?” 

“Then we know he won’t let anything kill us before he gets the chance to,” Fiona said with a smile.

“But he’s expecting also us to be adventurers, like him. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t become some badass vault hunter in the six months we were apart. The only reason I agreed to help with the traveler was to save Gortys.” 

Fiona raised an eyebrow “And the fame and fortune part meant nothing to you?” 

“Sure, the loot was a nice bonus, but this life- being a Vault Hunter, it isn’t for me. The only reason I found myself in that predicament in the first place is because Vasquez screwed me over. I don’t know if I can handle another daring adventure...Not with him.” Rhys said, his breathing growing sharp. Fiona glanced over him and saw that he was trembling. He was scared.

“Hey, Rhys,” she said, putting a gentle hand on his back, “It’ll be okay. And if anything goes wrong-I have my derringer. Jack won’t lay a finger on you, not while I’m around. You might not have become a badass Vault Hunter, but I did.” she gave him a playful wink as Rhys took a deep breath. 

“Yeah, I can trust you…” he said, “man, I would be a lot more comfortable if I had my stun baton, too.” 

“You don’t have your stun baton?” Fiona narrowed her eyes, “You decided to go through an unknown vault and you didn’t think to take your stun baton in case there was trouble?” 

“I left it in Gortys, okay? I forgot to grab it with Sasha nearly dying and all.”

“Oh my God, Rhys.” Fiona pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. 

Up ahead, Jack froze and turned back to them. 

“Hey, knuckleheads, can you hurry it up?” he called to them, “We’re getting into Skag territory soon and I wanna make sure we’re ready.”

Fiona and Rhys hurried up to catch up with the man on top of a shallow hill as he looked down at something below. 

“Look at ‘em. They must be on the hungry side,” Jack growled, “This is gonna get messy.” 

Fiona followed his gaze and saw the small outcropping of rocks littered with dens, and, sure enough, dozens of skags were prowling the area, looking to get ready for a hunt. She counted at least three alphas in the mix. 

“Do we have to go this way?” Fiona asked. 

“Yup.” Jack said, “This area is surrounded by mountains. The way I came in is now swarming with bandits; I doubt I could get through them twice now that they’ve called reinforcements. Skags or bandits, take your pick.” 

Fiona swallowed thickly and glanced over at Rhys, who was turning pale. 

“Yeah, we’ll take the skags,” Fiona said, “But you need to give us weapons; we’re not about to go in their undefended. And I hope you’re carrying a couple of extra shields in there.” 

Jack barked a laugh. 

“Yeah, I’ve got a few extras, but you’re gonna have to ask nicer than that.” 

“How about if you don’t give us some equipment, we won’t survive long enough to actually help you.”

“Does this mean you’re agreeing to help me on my quest, cupcake?” Jack asked, his eyes sparkling. Rhys caught Fiona’s eye and shook his head a little. She bit her lip. Whatever Jack needed them for wasn’t going to be pretty, but it would be nicer than being ripped apart by skags. 

“It’s that or our lives, so give us the damn equipment,” Fiona said, crossing her arms. Jack laughed again. 

“Oh, I like you, Hats,” he said. 

“Hats?” Fiona asked. Jack nodded, 

“Hats and Legs,” he said, pointing from Fiona to Rhys, “Also, relax, I was teasing. Learn how to take a joke, kitten. Yeah, I got enough equipment to share, but I want it back. That shit’s expensive.” 

He sloughed off his backpack and knelt down beside it, rifling through its contents. Now that Fiona had a better look, she saw it spark with digistruct technology- a container that big must have held a lot of items inside- and he pulled out several different items. 

There was a sniper, a shotgun, an SMG, and a pistol. He also pulled out a few boxes of ammo and two shiny looking shields. 

“Take your pic,” he said. Fiona bent down and grabbed the pistol. It was an easy choice since she was already skilled with her derringer. She glanced over at Rhys who was having a much more difficult time choosing what to take because he wasn’t particularly skilled with anything more than a stun baton. 

Fiona grabbed the shotgun and handed it to him. 

“Here, this is gonna be your best bet,” she said, “Keep it loaded and follow my lead. You shouldn't have to use it, but if something gets close, it’ll kill it if you fire.” 

“Thanks,” Rhys said appreciatively, hefting the unusual weight in his hands. Jack raised an eyebrow but said nothing. 

Fiona bent down to look at the two shields. They were good quality, but Fiona could see why Jack may be more willing to part with them. Pangolin and Hyperion. While Hyperion made good quality stuff, Jack had made clear that there was no love between him and the company. As for Pangolin? While the shields were top quality, they had a rather unfortunate side effect. If someone wasn’t used to experiencing them, then it could put them in danger. 

Fiona took the Pangolin shield and tossed the Hyperion shield to Rhys. She clipped the shield onto her belt and activated it, feeling its effects almost immediately. While the shield sparked to life, she also felt a drain on her body. She was weaker. 

Rhys clipped on his own shield to his dress pant loop. 

“Your first shot will drain your shield, so make it count,” Fiona said. Rhys nodded. 

Jack put away the rest of the guns and pulled out an SMG for himself. It was bandit made, but by looking at the parts Fiona could tell it was worth more than just a pretty penny, especially with how the tip of the barrel glowed with a corrosive tip. Jack caught her staring at it and gave her a wink. Fiona rolled her eyes. 

“Are we going to get moving or what?” she asked. 

“Or what.” Jack grinned. Fiona’s jaw dropped and she worked to stifle the rage. 

“Are...you… serious.” she said. 

“I mean, I haven’t even told you the plan yet.” Jack shrugged, “If you wanna run into skag infested territory like a psycho, be my guest. Legs and I will hang back and watch as you get ripped to shreds.”

“Can I get a different nickname?” Rhys asked

“No, now shut up,” Jack said, “Anyways, do you want to hear my brilliant plan?” 

Fiona raised an eyebrow but gestured for him to continue. Jack turned towards the rock outcropping, waving his hands as he spoke. 

“You see those three alphas? Two of them are watching the third closely. Must be a head alpha or something, cause it’s bigger than the others. Now, if you’ve ever read the snooze-fest that is Hammerlock’s book about them, you’d know that alpha skags don’t like other alpha skags being in charge. I say we shoot the big old alpha from a distance, wounding it enough so that the other alphas pounce on him.” 

“But that will send all the smaller skags running towards us,” Fiona said. Jack held up a finger.

“Yeah, but those are easy enough to take care of, much easier than handling three Alphas trying to defend their territory.”

That was… actually a decent plan; much better than anything Fiona had in mind (not that Fiona would ever admit that to Jack.)

“It’s...passable.” Fiona said, “We’d have to hope that The alphas are more interested in killing each other than killing us. 

“You got a better plan cupcake?” Jack asked.

“I could, but then we run the risk of those skags deciding that we’re on the menu.” 

Jack slung his SMG across his back and pulled out his sniper rifle, moving it into position.

“Then get ready to run, kiddos,” he said, squeezing the trigger. 

The bullet ripped through the air and landed with a crack against the alpha skag’s hindquarters. It roared in anger, and the other alphas pounced on him and a battle for superiority began. Fiona didn’t wait to see who the winner would be; she took off like a shot, hoping that Rhys followed. 

They ran towards the divide as skags swarmed the area, some joining in the battle and others turning to attack the new invaders to their home. 

Fiona fired her pistol at the first Skag who roared at her, preparing to pounce. It hit the critical spot and caused the thing's head to pop. Fiona didn’t have time to think about how disgusting that was as she kept running past the alphas locked in battle. They didn’t turn to her, which she saw as a blessing. 

Rhys let out a yelp and ran past her. Fiona saw there was a pup skag nipping at his heels and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes; she would have to give him hell for that later. 

“Dammit!” Jack cried out, and Fiona heard the telltale sounds of an alpha skag’s roar. She hazarded a look back and saw two alphas lying dead on the ground, the wounded Alpha a clear winner, and it had Jack in its sights. 

Fiona hesitated; she didn’t know whether to run and leave Jack to the skag, or stay and fight. She was about to debate the merits of leaving their guide behind when she heard Rhys scream. That settled the argument in her mind.

Fiona sprinted out, hoping she could get to Rhys in time before anything happened, leaving Jack behind to face the Alpha. 

She came to a fork in the path, both surrounded by steep walls of rock. 

“Rhys? Rhys where are you?” she called. There was no answer, but she heard the sound of a shotgun going off, and she tried to pinpoint the sound. It sounded like it came from the left side of the path so Fiona ran down that one. She quickly realized there wasn’t any sign of Rhys, however, she did realize she was becoming surrounded by skags. 

She cursed loudly and fired into several of the skags, emptying her pistol into them. She reloaded while backing up, narrowly avoiding an adult skag trying to pounce on her. She took a step back, and felt hot stone behind her- she had backed herself against the rock. Shit. 

Another shotgun went off, and this time Fiona could tell she went down the wrong path. If she wasn’t surrounded by skags she would have chided at herself for being more concerned for Rhys than for her own wellbeing. A lot of good it did her, being surrounded by skags. 

Another skag leaped at her but was ripped through with bullets. Fiona glanced over and saw Jack looking furious at her coated in skag blood and raising his weapon. 

“What the hell? You left me!” he shouted

“Go! Help Rhys!” Fiona cried out, “I’ve got this handled!” She fired into an adult skag and downed it, then turned to the next one. This one was rabid, its eyes glowing red and its mouth dripping with saliva as it opened its mouth to roar. Fiona took the shot- and missed. 

The rabid skag lunged towards Fiona. The trigger of her pistol clicked hollowly as the skag landed on her, toppling her over, and started ripping through her shield. She fought to kick the skag off as she felt the powers in her shield slowly draining, but her body was too weak from being exposed to the shield in the first place. The sharp skag claws met her skin and she howled in pain as the claws tore a gash through her chest. 

There was a sharp thud, and suddenly the skag’s weight was torn off of Fiona. Through a red haze, she saw Jack wrestling with the skag and unloading a clip of bullets into its head.

“What was that about handling it cupcake?” Jack asked, glancing at her. The grin from his smug face darkened as he saw the blood seep from her chest. 

“Shit,” he said. He dropped to his knees and pressed his hand against her, trying to gauge the depth of the wound. Fiona moaned in pain. 

“Easy there, princess. We’ll get a healing hypo in you and you’ll be right as rain.” 

“We need to help Rhys…” she said, her head swimming and vision growing dark. 

“I’m helping you first,” Jack growled, ripping away part of her shirt so he could have easier access to the wound. 

“Fiona!” Rhys came running back raising a shotgun high in the sky, “I killed one! It cornered me and I-” Rhys froze, taking in the sight before him of Jack ripping off Fiona’s shirt. There was an awkward silence for a moment, the two men staring at each other, then Rhys raised his shotgun.

“Get away from her you son of a bitch!” he roared. Jack raised his hands defensively. 

“She’s injured, piss for brains. She needs a healing hypo, now,” he said. Rhys glanced over at Fiona and paled. 

“I-I didn’t-” Rhys stuttered. 

“Now, hows about rather than attacking me, why don’t you make yourself useful and search some of these skags and their piles for healing hypos so we can actually save her life, dipshit.” 

Rhys lowered his weapon and ran to the nearest skag and started ripping into it, looking for the lifesaving vial. 

Meanwhile, Jack dug through his bag, muttering to himself as he grabbed bandages out of his bag. Fiona could barely make out what he said in her haze of pain.

“Hey, is this what you were looking for?” Rhys cried out. Jack looked back and saw Rhys waving a bright red syringe in the air, coated in skag blood and bile.

“Holy shit you actually found one!?” Jack cackled, “Bring it here!” 

Rhys ran forward and handed the syringe to Jack who pulled off the cap and pressed it into Fiona’s skin. The flesh began bubbling and knitting itself together but stopped before the wound had fully closed. 

“We need another one,” Jack said. Rhys was about to turn and search for another one when both he and Jack froze, hearing the telltale roar of another alpha skag nearby. Rhys helped Fiona to her feet, then slung her arm over his shoulder to help carry her weight. 

Fiona helped Rhys along as best she could, grateful for the friend at her side. They only ran into a few skags on the way which Jack quickly dispatched, however they could hear the roars of the alpha not far off. 

Fiona’s chest hurt. Each step was painful as it pulled on the wound but she kept going. She listened closely to the Alpha’s roars; it seemed like they were getting fairly far ahead of it. It should be safe enough for a break, shouldn’t it? She looked down at her chest and saw it seeping with blood and knew she didn’t have much of a choice.

“I need to stop for a moment,” she begged. 

“We’re almost there.” Jack insisted. 

“Hey, asshole, she got ripped apart by a skag. Let her take a break.” Rhys said, helping Fiona sit down. Jack turned sharply at them and glared at Rhys. 

“We keep going, and we get her another anshin vial faster,” Jack said. 

“We don’t let her rest and she doesn’t make it there alive.” Rhys said, “Her wounds are reopening.” Jack glanced down at her exposed chest and saw red dribbling down. Fiona wanted to argue that she could speak for herself, but she hurt too much.

“You wanna go back sifting through skag parts, Legs?” Jack asked. Rhys’ lips curled into a snarl. 

“Easy now boys; I only need a moment. I can keep going.” Fiona said. She tried to stand up again and groaned, clutching her chest. Rhys crouched beside her in concern, and Jack sighed. He furrowed his brow and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Don’t- Don’t try to get up,” Jack said, scrubbing his face. He walked over to her and knelt down beside her, moving his hands under her back and knees. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Fiona slapped his hands. 

“I’m carrying you, cupcake. We need to keep going.” Jack said. 

“Don’t even think about-” Rhys began, but Fiona raised her hand to silence him.

“How close is the fast travel station?” 

“We’re not going to a fast travel station, kiddo, not at first.” Jack said, “We’re going to a catch a ride; the fast travel is still a long ways off. But there should be one of Zed’s vending machines there.” 

“How close is it?” Fiona asked. 

“Ten, twenty minutes away?” Jack said.

“Fine,” she spat. 

“I could carry her!” Rhys offered hurriedly.

“Hell, kiddo, I thought you wanted her to live!” Jack said. Rhys pouted. as Jack adjusted his hands underneath Fiona.

“Just… don’t try anything funny.” Fiona said as Jack lifted her up, and winced as he adjusted her in his arms. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, princess,” Jack said. They continued on at a brisk pace until they reached the catch a ride station at the edge of the canyon situated next to two vending machines and several ammo crates. 

Jack was surprisingly gentle as he set Fiona down on one of the crates and went to the vending machine. Rhys shot her a look. 

“Why did you let him carry you?” he hissed. 

“I’ve seen your arms; you couldn’t do it. And I didn’t feel like bleeding out in skag territory,” Fiona snapped, “I thought you said you would follow my lead in trusting him.” 

“I am. That’s the only reason I haven’t used the shotgun on him yet. Especially after he made me dig through those skag corpses.” 

“That probably saved my life.” Fiona pointed out. 

“I don’t think he expected it to.”

The two fell silent as Jack returned with hypo in hand, carefully administering it to Fiona while Rhys glared at him.

Fiona was honestly a little shocked at Jack’s behavior; saving her, healing her, carrying her. This isn’t how she imagined the terrifying dictator to be in person. While Jack was an asshole, he clearly wasn’t the monster Handsome Jack was.  
Fiona sighed in relief as the healing hypo did its job and the wound sealed the rest of the way. 

“I’m impressed,” Jack said, tossing the empty syringe, “Not many people can say they got clawed up by rabid skag and lived. Course we should probably find you a new shirt or something, not that I mind the view.” He winked at her, and Fiona flushed at the bare skin of her torso being exposed through the tears in her shirt. Yup, Jack certainly was an asshole. 

While Fiona tried to regain what modesty she could, Jack went over to the digistruct machine and began swiping at the screen, only to curse loudly and smack it. 

“Damn it Scooter!” he said. 

“What’s wrong?” Fiona asked. 

“Scooter’s locked this one; I have to call him to get the damn access codes, that son of a bitch,” Jack said, activating his echo device. 

A familiar, jovial voice answered the echo line. 

“Well HEY there Jack! How’ve you been doing?” Scooter said. 

“Scooter, I need you to unlock catch a ride 37-T Near Nexis Point. I need a ride.” 

“Well, as much as you know I love helping you, Jack, I’d say a favor like that deserves another favor if you know what I’m saying.”

“Fine,” Jack said through gritted teeth, “I’ll deliver a love letter to the next girl of your dreams or whatever, just unlock the system and get me a damn ride.” 

“I’m not gonna make you go out of your way or nothin’, man, just when you get back to Sanctuary I was wondering if you could go talk to Ma. You guys have a lot of bad air and I think if you two just talked-”

“No, absolutely not,” Jack said. 

“Then I guess I won’t unlock that catch a ride,” 

“I can pay you. How does 2,000 sound?” Jack said, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Doesn’t sound as nice as you becoming my new dad if you get what I’m sayin’ here.” 

Jack looked like he was about to scream when the echo crackled and a new party joined the line. 

“Scooter, let Jack have the ride; I have a job he needs to do for Official Crimson Raider business,” The new man said. 

“Aw, sure Roland, I’ll unlock it right away for him. But Jack, you really should talk to Moxxi, it would mean the world to me man.” 

“Not gonna happen,” Jack said, cutting off the line to Scooter as he tapped on the catch a ride screen. Soon digistruct lights were flashing and a car was beginning to materialize. 

“Alright, Roland, what do you need me to do?” Jack said. 

“Sanctuary’s shield generator is getting shot to bits over here; it’s not going to last for much longer. You happen to be near a Hyperion outpost where they happen to have just the power core we need to keep it running. If you can grab it, you’d be helping a lot of people.” 

“Yeah, yeah, Sanctuary survives another day, blah blah blah. Just make sure there’s a dry whiskey and a pile of cash waiting for me when I get back.” 

“Thank you, Jack.” Roland said, “We’ll see you when you get back. Good luck, soldier.” 

The line cut off, and Jack ruffled a hand through his hair and turned to Rhys and Fiona with a half-hearted grin. 

“Change of plans, kiddos; we’re going on an adventure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so excited about where I'm taking this story; I hope you like it too. If you enjoyed this chapter please leave a comment and let me know.


	3. Hyperion Honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys proves his usefulness as he comes up with a plan to help Sanctuary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shirtless Jack is for you guys, Eternal Garbage and DualDreamer, I hope you like him! (there will be more shirtless, Vault hunting Jack later, I promise. And in sexier detail ;) )

“Hell no,” Rhys said, “You’re taking us to Sanctuary; we’re not about to get sidetracked on another little adventure, especially not after Fiona got hurt.” 

“Listen kiddo, the only reason Roland would contact me is if the situation was dire, so I don’t have time to drop you off at the nearest fast travel station and escort you to Sanctuary. So you can either come with me, or the fast travel station is several miles that way in an unforgiving desert,” Jack pointed off into the distance. Rhys glanced at Fiona who only offered a shrug as she climbed into the passenger side of the newly digistructed Bandit Technical. Jack climbed into the driver seat and glanced back at Rhys. 

“You coming, Legs?” he asked, revving the engine. 

“Where am I supposed to sit?” Rhys asked- Fiona had taken the only other seat beside the driver. Jack rolled his eyes. 

“Oh my friggin- Just get in the back.” 

Rhys swallowed hard as he looked at the open back of the truck and noticed the distinct lack of seatbelts, but he climbed in anyway. As soon as he settled in, Jack boosted the car and nearly sent Rhys tumbling. He grabbed onto the sides and began screaming. 

“Slow down! SLOW DOWN!” he shouted, eliciting a roar of laughter from Jack. Rhy’s knuckles were white as he held onto the sides of the car for dear life, wondering if this was how he would die. Fiona hit the roof of the car with her hand and let out a whoop of excitement, especially as Jack took a sharp turn and used a large rock as a ramp. The car landed with a loud thump and the boost slowed. To Rhys’ horror, Fiona was laughing. 

“Where’d you learn to drive like that?” she asked. 

“Pandora, baby.” Jack grinned. 

“I hate you both.” Rhys wined. 

“So, what’s the plan, Jack? What exactly are we doing?” Fiona asked. 

“Sanctuary’s defenses run on power cores, but thanks to Hyperion’s constant barrage of attacks, it’s been draining the power fast. Certain Hyperion outposts happen to have the exact sort of power cores we need, so we’re gonna take it from them.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” 

Jack snorted

“We go in guns blazing of course.” 

“No!” Rhys called from the back, “We’re not getting into another fight; it was bad enough with skags!” 

“You got a better plan, cupcake?” Jack asked.

“No, but I’ll think of something!” Rhys said. 

“Alright, you got 20 minutes before we get there, Legs, make ‘em count!” 

Rhys settled down again and grumbled something to himself. Fiona turned to Jack. 

“So, how does a guy like you end up on Pandora?” she asked. 

“It’s a long story, so you gotta at least buy me a drink first, babe.” 

“Then how long have you been a Vault Hunter?” 

Jack scratched his chin with his free hand. 

“I guess... I started six years ago with the Vault of the Destroyer, but I didn’t stay a vault hunter. I only became ‘full time’ when I left Hyperion what...3 years ago? I don’t know, don’t really care.” 

He hit the boost again and the car roared into action, causing Rhys to scream in the back. 

“Will you knock it off? I’m trying to think of a plan here!” Rhys shouted when the boost had subsided. 

“We need to get there fast, kiddo.” Jack said. 

“I’m trying to use my echo eye, asshole! At least give me some warning next time; now I have to start over!” 

“What the hell do you need an echo eye for?” 

“I’m accessing the Hyperion info network to get more information because I may have a plan that doesn’t involve guns.” 

“Why wouldn’t you want to use guns? They’re freaking awesome,” Jack said. 

“Let Rhys figure this out first, then you can decide which plan we’re using,” Fiona said, “He’s actually come up with some pretty good plans in the past.” 

Jack huffed and returned to his driving. They rode in silence for about ten more minutes except for the occasional shout of warning from Jack regarding the boost. This gave Fiona time to think. 

This isn’t what she expected when she entered the Vault. She had hoped for treasure, maybe an artifact or a rare weapon, yet here she was in a completely different world following a madman. What made her trust Jack? He wasn’t nice by any accounts; he was exactly the type of asshole she expected him to be. And yet…. And yet he pulled them out of the vault before it closed, and defended them against bandits. He gave them weapons when they asked for them and risked his life to save Fiona, going as far as to carry her, gently even. And this man was on speaking terms with Roland, a man who Fiona only heard about in stories as being honorable and brave, protecting the innocent. All of Pandora had mourned his death at the hands of Handsome Jack, yet here they were, talking to each other. 

And Scooter...When Fiona had heard his voice her heart had ached. His death was perhaps the moment she regretted the most in their adventure. She hadn’t expected to run into him here, and she wasn’t sure what she would do if she saw him in person. He wouldn't remember her, after all. 

Rhys tapped on the back of the van, getting her and Jack’s attention. 

“Alright, I have a plan,” he said. 

“Then let’s hear it, cupcake.” 

“Fiona, do you remember Assquez?” Rhys asked. 

“How could I forget? He had a memorable face,” Fiona grinned while Rhys shuddered in disgust before moving on. 

“ANYWAYS, looks like without me he went through the ranks of Hyperion fairly quickly and became the sole head of security. Thankfully that idiot still uses the same passcodes he did in our universe. I’ve got all of his access codes and we can stroll right in.” 

“Holy shit, pumpkin,I gotta admit I’m impressed, but what are you going to do about the fact that someone may recognize that you aren’t him?” Jack asked. 

“When I was working to repair my arm, I also happened to repair the disguise scanner; I still have Vasquez’s face saved.” 

“You kept it?” Fiona asked, “Why the hell did you keep it?” 

“I don’t know; maybe for the same reason you kept a dead man’s eye in your pocket!” Rhys said, then, mimicking her voice said, “Look, it came in handy.” 

Fiona kept her face cool as she raised an eyebrow, “Lemme get this straight; you brought a disguise scanner to an alternate dimension, but not your stun baton.” 

Rhy’s mouth snapped shut while Jack burst out laughing. 

“Man I wish I knew the context to this, holy shit!” he wheezed, “Please continue, pumpkin, I want to hear the rest of this plan.” 

“I send a message as Vasquez to this Hyperion outpost, telling them that the power core has been recalled due to severe malfunctions. I disguise myself as Vasquez and tell them that I have come to personally collect the recalled items and we ride into the sunset, no bloodshed or guns needed.” 

“And what are we going to do if this plan inevitably goes sideways?” Fiona asked. 

“Then Jack can come in guns blazing,” Rhys said. 

“Not bad, buttercup. One problem; Hyperion toadies generally don’t do their own dirty work.” 

“Fiona can be my assistant; I’ll make her do all the heavy lifting while I stay back and ‘supervise’. It works out perfectly.” 

“Did you forget the part where my clothes are ripped apart? There’s no way they’re not going to notice that,” Fiona said. 

“You could borrow my undershirt- I wore it back in my Hyperion days and should pass inspection.” Jack suggested. 

“You’re like twice my size, it would be too loose.” 

“I have some extra pins in my pocket we could tie it back with,” Rhys said. 

“Why?” Fiona narrowed her eyes. 

“When I went out to meet with you, I wanted to make sure I looked good, that means being prepared in case of emergencies.” 

“But no stun baton…” Fiona said. 

“Will you drop the whole stun baton thing?” Rhys said, glaring at her while Jack laughed. 

“Alright, kiddos; that’s enough. Rhys, send out this message or whatever; I’m down for this plan.” 

Rhys grinned and began pulling up screens on his cybernetic arm. 

“Great; and with luck, this may get old Assquez fired.” 

Jack stopped the car just before they arrived Hyperion outpost, the sun barely peeking over the horizon. Jack jumped out and began stripping out of his jacket and vest and began unbuttoning his shirt. Fiona and Rhys quickly realized that he was not wearing the signature sweater underneath his clothes. 

“Don’t you wear a sweater or something underneath that?” Rhys asked, shielding his eyes from Jack’s now exposed chest. 

“...No?” Jack said, “Why would I wear a damn Hyperion sweater?” He slipped out of the rest of his dress shirt and handed it to Fiona who caught an eyeful of Jack. He wasn’t what she expected, which was becoming a pattern in regards to Jack. She had secretly expected someone who was all talk and no show, but here Jack was being very toned and frankly rather attractive, with his pants riding low on his hips giving her a great view of all of him. She also noticed a small silver locket hanging from his neck, but chose to hold back commenting on it; there would be time later. 

“Thanks,” she said. She went behind the bandit technical and changed out of her ripped shirt and put on Jack’s. It smelled like sweat. She wrinkled her nose as she slipped the garment on. At least her jacket was still intact and would hide how oversized it was. She tucked and pinned the shirt as best she could, then went back out to meet with Rhys and Jack. Rhys had already donned the digistruct disguise and was giving his smarmiest look he could. 

“Holy crap; I can’t believe I used to work with people like that,” Jack laughed, still noticeably shirtless. 

“Can’t you put your jacket back on at least?” Fiona asked. 

“Nah. Why, does it bother you?” 

Fiona glanced over his body, and part of her wanted to say that yeah, it did. After all, this was the dictator of Pandora standing there shirtless in front of her, and here she was finding him… not repulsive. It would be better if it went away, then she wouldn’t have to confront whatever emotions were building up inside of her as she stared at him. 

Crap she was still staring. 

And if she admitted to having a problem with it, it would admit that this man was causing some sort of reaction out of her. That settled her decision. 

“I really don’t care,” she said with a shrug, “Are you ready to go, Rhys?” 

“My name is Vasquez, but you can call me sir, you low level chump.” ‘Vasquez’ said. Fiona adjusted her stance and held herself like she would have in Hyperion. Snobbish, confident, but also cowed. 

“Yes sir, whatever you say, sir,” Fiona said, following him as he walked up towards the Hyperion outpost. A guard stopped them on their way in. Fiona was surprised when she saw the Hyperion guard donning a black and red suit rather than the yellow she was used to during Jack’s reign over Hyperion. She also noticed that the gun he carried sported the same colors. This world really was different. 

“Can I help you?” the guard asked, keeping his fingers on a Hyperion gun warily. 

“Yeah, dickcheese, didn’t you get my message? I need that 40X powercore and I needed it yesterday.” 

“Who are you?” the guard asked. Rhys crossed his arms and gave an indignant look. 

“Who am I? I’m the guy who’s about to fire your asses if you don’t listen to your superior. It’s bad enough I had to come to this asshole smelling planet and now I get to deal with you knuckleheads. I’m Hugo Vasquez, head of Security, your boss.” 

The guard turned away for a moment, speaking into his echo com in hushed whispers. The guard cleared his throat and turned back up. 

“Alright, Mr. Vasquez, we just need your security clearance code for validation and the name of your companion for our records.” 

Rhys grumbled something about incompetence and summary firings before he rattled off a long code that Fiona was almost certain he was reading off via echo eye. 

“And this is my assistant, Sheila.” Rhys added when he was finished. 

“And does she have a security clearance code?” the guard asked. Fiona tensed up. 

“She shouldn’t need one, assholes, you have me! Now hop to it ladies, chop chop, unless you want the janitors cleaning up your splattered corpses when the power core explodes.” 

Fiona made a mental note to congratulate Rhys on his smooth tactics later; she could make a con man out of him yet. 

“Right, of course sir. It will be a few minutes while we disengage the power core and prepare it for transport. Can we get you anything? A cup of coffee or a bagel?” 

“Just get me the damn power core. Oh and I’ll take that coffee.” 

The guard jumped to fulfill Rhys’ order, hurrying to the nearest building. Fiona gave a smirk. 

“Nice job, Vasquez,” she said, “Not bad at being a con man.” 

Rhys gave a shrug. 

“I learned from the best. Which was your sister, of course.” 

“Uhuh.” Fiona rolled her eyes. 

The guard returned quickly enough with a coffee and handed it to ‘Vasquez’. Rhys sipped it tentatively while they waited, and winked as he saw Fiona’s disappointed expression over not getting coffee herself. Yeah, she would have to make him pay for that. 

Several guards came out, escorting a man carrying a yellow Hyperion crate. They opened it for Vasquez to inspect. He handed Fiona his coffee and looked over the powercore, no doubt scanning it with his hidden echo eye to make sure it was the right component. While Rhys wasn’t watching Fiona took a large sip of his drink and dumped the rest out onto the ground, tossing the cup into the nearest waste bin. 

Rhys straightened up after he had finished analyzing the power core. 

“Yup, this is the one. Good thing we caught it in time; looks like it was about ready to blow.” he said, patting the crate. “Sheila, get over here and carry this for me.” 

Rhys glanced over and cocked his eyebrow, clearly looking for the coffee cup. Fiona offered an innocent shrug in response. That’s what he got for being an asshole; even if he was just playing a part. Seeing his little pout made it all worth it, even if it meant she had to carry the crate. 

“Right away sir,” she said and carefully lifted up the crate. It was heavy, but by no means undoable, but she knew her arms were going to ache after this was done. 

“Well, it’s been fun knuckleheads. See you never,” Rhys waved goodbye to them and began a brisk walk out of the facility. 

A guard stopped him. 

“Sir, do you have reasonable transport and guards? We wouldn’t feel comfortable with you leaving without them.” 

“It’s handled, but thanks for your concern,” ‘Vasquez’ huffed. 

“See, we’ve just picked up scans of a bandit technical right outside of our territory. We could take care of it for you.” 

Rhys glanced over to Fiona, begging for help. She thought for a moment, then decided to play it smooth. 

“That’s our transport. We thought it prudent to get local help and disguise ourselves in case of an ambush; the disposal grounds are deep in bandit territory.” Fiona said. 

The guard nodded. 

“Ah, got one of the kissed, huh? I don’t like working with them myself; they give me the creeps. Stay safe out there.” 

The ‘kissed’? Fiona filed it in her head as something to ask about later and followed Rhys out of the outpost. When they broke the line of sight with the guard, Rhys went over and took the crate from Fiona.

“Thanks,” she said, stretching out her arms, grateful for the relief in weight. 

“Uh huh,” Rhys huffed, noticeably straining under the weight of the crate. Fiona rolled her eyes good naturedly and stifled a chuckle. She took one end of the crate, adjusting it so that they both could carry it. 

“Here, let’s do it together; just like old times.” she said. They walked it back to the technical where Jack, now donning his jacket, was waiting for them. 

“Not bad; I was expecting to have to barge in there any second.” he said, taking the crate from them with only one hand and slinging it into the back. 

“What a showoff,” Fiona thought. 

Jack jumped into the driver's side and revved the engine once more “Now get in kiddos. Next stop: Sanctuary.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed reading this, please leave me a comment. They brighten my day and keep me going with writing this. I couldn't do it without the support of those reading!


	4. A Safehaven and Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally making it to Sanctuary, Fiona and Rhys discover just how different this world is from their old one.

Jack drove them to a bandit controlled fast travel station and punched in the coordinates. 

“Hold tight, kiddos,” he said as the digistruct light enveloped them.

Fiona had only visited Sanctuary twice in her life. Once, when she was a little girl and it was a pseudo mining colony, and the second time was to do con work after Handsome Jack took over. She remembered admiring the strong shields they had put in place and the walls they had erected to keep out Hyperion. But all of that was nothing compared to the fortress before them. 

Rather than one wall encircling the whole thing, there were several walls and barriers all encompassed by a massive shield. She looked up and saw beams of electricity flashing down from the eye of Helios battering the stubborn shield, but even she could see it wouldn’t have lasted for long against this barrage; not without additional power sources.

Jack walked up to the first door and knocked. 

“Lemme in, Kiddos, Daddy’s home.” he said.

A voice from beyond the wall spoke. 

“State your name and business.” it said. Jack crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

“Jack, and I’ve come with the frickin’ power core you asked for.”

“And your companions?”

“New recruits. Fiona and Rhys. They helped me get the power core.” 

“It’s good to have you back, Jack. Prepare for inspection.” 

The door slid open and a group of Crimson Raiders suddenly surrounded them, their guns pointed directly at them. Jack just sighed and raised his arms above his head, and glanced over at Rhys and Fiona, gesturing for them to do the same. 

“We’re not infected, numbnuts.” he said. 

“Protocol is Protocol, Jack.” A man in a bright red bandana said, “Please expose your neck.” 

Jack did a he was told, sluffing off most of his jacket and bending over as the man inspected Jack’s neck, prodding the nape carefully and running a scanner over it. The scanner beeped cheerfully and Jack pulled his jacket back on. 

“Looks like you’re cleared; now go put on a shirt or we’re not letting you into the city,” the man said. 

“Seriously? But I have the power core and didn’t you guys need it like, Yesterday?” 

“It can wait ‘till you’re decent.” The man huffed. 

“Fine, but if all of Sanctuary blows up don’t blame me,” Jack rolled his eyes and caught the shirt another Crimson Raider tossed him, dressing himself in front of them. 

Fiona was next as a Raider approached her with a scanner. 

“Please bare your neck,” They said. Fiona shifted her clothes to expose the nape of her neck, the scanner beeping cheerfully. Next they moved to Rhys, doing the exact same thing. When they had finished they were released into the outer city. 

“C’mon, let’s give them the power core,” Jack said, now donning a worn black shirt underneath his jacket, hoisting the crate with the core inside almost effortlessly. 

“What a showoff,” Rhys muttered under his breath. 

“Better him than us carrying it,” Fiona shrugged. 

They came to a small building where the shield generator lay. It rumbled as Jack popped the old core out and the new one back in, timing it so that Helios would be in between moonshots during the time the shield was done. With that done, Jack hooked his thumbs into the pockets of his patched jeans and rocked on his feet, cocking his head back. 

“C’mon kiddos, lemme show you Sanctuary. Then we can talk about you guys helping us take down Hyperion.”

Fiona glanced at Rhys, wincing. 

“Actually, Jack, while we appreciate the help you’ve given us and would love to repay you somehow, I think we’d rather just get home as soon as possible. We wouldn’t mind you showing us Sanctuary, though,” Fiona said. 

Jack’s face darkened and a frown crossed his features. 

“Yeah, sure,” he said flatly, “Come with me.” 

They came to the secondary wall, however this time the guards quickly opened the gate. 

The first sight of Sanctuary was that of a cement courtyard and several forking roads leading to different parts of the city. To the left was Scooter’s Garage, the sign lit up with bright neon colors and the doors wide open with the smell of rubber and gasoline emanating from it. On the right side was several plain looking buildings with signs advertising Moxxi’s bar just a little ways down the road. There were a few kids playing in the streets while Adults ignored them, and people pounding at boarded windows and doors, demanding things from the people inside. Trash built up in piles, and in one of the trash piles a scary looking woman lay crooning over a broken doll. 

Rhys shivered. 

“Didn’t you once say that Sanctuary was one of the nicer places on Pandora?” he whispered to Fiona. 

“Yeah? It is,” she said, “Is there something wrong with it?” 

Rhys honestly couldn’t tell whether or not she was joking so instead offered a shrug. 

A girl’s head popped out of the side of Scooter’s garage. 

“Woahh,” she said, pulling up her goggles towards her red pigtails and revealing a soot-stained face, “Is that Jack I see?” 

Jack offered a smug grin and winked at her, and the girl came running over, grinning. When she caught up to Jack she threw her arms around him and squeezed him tightly.

“Woah woah, easy there you grease monkey. What did I say about personal space? And your getting grease all over me!” Jack protested, trying to pull away from the girl’s embrace. She gave one final squeeze and released him. Her grin suddenly turned into a sour expression as she looked him over. 

“Three months, Jack; you’ve been gone for three months!” she said, “I’ve wanted to show you my new hyper-compressed power converters for DT’s exploding clap for weeks based off of those designs you gave me,” she pouted slightly, then seemed to notice Jack’s two companions, “Hey, who are these losers?” 

“They’re visitors; gonna see if they can get some help from the people in Sanctuary to find a way back home,” 

“Offworlders, huh? Good luck. I’m Gaige by the way,” the girl said, sticking out her arm. Fiona took her arm and introduced herself, and Rhys did the same. 

Gaige paused for a moment and stared at his cybernetic arm. 

“Sweet arm, but I could think of like a million ways to make it better, starting with lasers.” she said. 

“Gaige-” Jack warned. 

“What? It’s not like I’m going to sneak in and modify it in his sleep; Roland told me I can’t anymore.” 

“Ugh that guy is allergic to fun. Speaking of which, do you know where he is?” Jack asked. Gaige shrugged. 

“Probably just at headquarters. He’s working on something or whatever. See ya ‘round Jack. If you’re free a little later I could use help calibrating discord circuitry,” 

Jack barked a laugh.

“I don’t work on your schedule, kiddo,” he said, “But I’ll see ya around.” 

Gaige didn’t seem deterred by this as she waved goodbye and bounced back into Scooter’s garage. Jack dusted of the soot and rubbed at a particularly nasty grease mark she left on the black shirt. 

“Hey, at least this shirt isn’t mine, right?” he said,” Now c’mon, Hat, Legs. Let’s get you two to Roland; He’ll be able to allocate resources to get you started on your little vault reopening project. If not, I mean, there’s plenty of people willing to help for the right price around Sanctuary.” 

They followed him through the streets, passing by dirty buildings and dirty people towards the heart of the city. A voice stopped them before reaching the headquarters. 

“Hey, Jack!” young man called, walking over to them. Fiona took in the younger man; he was lean and muscular, with a messy red hair and a face dotted in freckles. His skin was tanned by the Pandoran sun, which only added to the number of freckles. He moved with a strong confidence. 

“Heya, kiddo. Keeping out of trouble?” Jack asked, locking the man’s neck with his arm and tousling his hair. 

“Hey, Jack, cut it out! I just wanna meet your new friends.” the man said. Jack released him and the man straightened up. 

“So you must be the new vault hunters everyone’s been talking about. It’s nice to have some fresh faces, especially when we’ve been losing so many.” the man offered his hand, “The name’s Tim. I’ve been working with this asshole for years, so if he gives you any problems, come to me and I can certainly sympathise.” 

Just like with Gaige, they introduced themselves. Tim was much warmer when he shook their hands, giving them genuine smiles. 

“Jack seems to know a lot of people here.” Fiona said. Tim nodded and gave a small laugh

“Yeah; he’s known by everyone in one way or another, be it good or bad. Lemme tell you, this guy knows how to make an impression. Once he-” 

“Alright, now Tim, don’t you have Crimson Raider business to attend to?” Jack asked hastily, cutting Tim off “Can’t have my boy wimping out on them.” 

Tim rolled his eyes. 

“Gotta wait until nightfall. Maya and I are going to Friendship Gulag to follow a lead on some sort of weapon hidden in the dust.” he said with a sigh, “It’s times like this I miss the desks in Hyperion. No risk of getting shot at.” 

“No risk of getting shot at? Hell kid, you were there for the invasion!” Jack said. Timothy shrugged. 

“They were mostly shooting at you,” 

“They still are, kiddo,” Jack said. Timothy crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. 

“I never should have agreed to this.” 

“Agreed to what?” Fiona asked. Tim flashed a grin and pressed a button on his shirt. Digistruct light rippled over him, and soon another Jack was staring at them. 

“Jack here, the real one,” the new ‘Jack’ said with a wink, even his voice and cadence matching the other man’s. 

“Woah, a Jack double…” Rhys said, his eyes widening, “You guys were legends on Helios.” 

Timothy snorted and digistructed back into himself. 

“Yeah, I’m sure they’d love to get their hands on me. You from up there, Rhys?” he asked. 

“Uh, yeah, a long time ago.” Rhys said, “Doing some independant stuff now.” 

Jack interrupted them, getting visibly bored by the conversation, “Anyways, Timtams, we gotta get going; Gotta lot to talk to Roland about.” 

“Well, see you around Jackass,” Tim said, giving them a polite wave. Jack grinned and flipped him off with Tim returning the favor 

 

They came to a building covered in banners advertising the resistance and Jack ushered them in. 

The first room they came to on the inside was filled with bunk beds and lockers, a slight smell of bacon lingering inside. To the side were desks piled with papers and strange looking rocks, and even further in were several washing machines and dryers. 

“You two will probably be sleeping here during your stay in Sanctuary,” Jack sniffed, “Hope you two are heavy enough sleepers that you won’t be bothered by her experiments, but light enough to wake up if she tries to cut your hair in your sleep.” 

“What the hell?” Rhys muttered. Fiona patted his arm sympathetically; she’d heard of worse in Hollow Point but didn’t feel like now would be the best time to bring it up to Rhys. 

Fiona paused before following Jack up a narrow staircase, staring at framed photograph.

“No friggin way.” she said. Rhys glanced at it and froze. Jack paused and looked over at them. 

“Hey, you found a picture from my first time Vault Hunting.” he said. 

The picture depicted four people, a soldier, a siren, a berserker, and Jack, their arms slung across each other and a bird clinging onto Jack’s shoulder, with a large, tentacled beast lay dead in the corner and a glowing vault symbol stretched over the background. 

“Is that- Is that the destroyer?” Rhys asked. 

“Yeah. Total pushover, as it turns out. The eridians must have been a bunch of wimps to have lost to it” Jack sniffed.

“In our Pandora, I always heard it was Lilith, Brick, Roland, and Mordecai taking down the vault monster.” 

“Oh, Mordecai was there. He’s the one taking the picture. His bird’s right there.” Jack pointed to bloodwing, and then added with a mutter, “At least she still likes me.” 

“You really took down the Destroyer?” Rhys asked, shaking his head in disbelief. 

“I mean, I had help. Now c’mon, I don’t want to get into this right now, we gotta go see Roland.” 

Fiona was taken aback; Jack actually hunted the vault himself? She had always heard stories of how he tricked the vault hunters, then stole the credit. Yet this Jack had proof of Vault Hunting, and was sharing the credit. She could get used to this version of Jack. 

They went up a narrow staircase to the second floor, entering into a large room with a holographic vault symbol emanating from the center console, a man crouching over it and staring at papers in his hand. 

“Hey, Roland! Nice to see you buddy!” Jack said. The man looked up, his face remaining impassive. He looked beyond Jack to Rhys and Fiona.

“I assume you two are the companions he picked up inside of the vault? You did good work with the Power Core, we could use more people like you. Ever thought of joining the Crimson Raiders?” 

“We’re not really the raiding type,” Rhys said, scratching the back of his neck. 

“We just want to get back home to our friends and family,” Fiona added.

“It’s a shame; we could really use your help. Of course Sanctuary will still provide you with the resources we can for you to be able to return home” Roland said, “There’s a spare bedroom in section C as long as you two don’t mind sharing. It isn’t much, but it’s all we have on such short notice.” 

“Thank you.” Fiona said. Roland gave a curt nod and they were dismissed. 

“So, you’re not joining the Crimson Raiders, huh? Y’know you’ll still be doing Crimson Raider work when you’re with me,” Jack said as they were leaving. 

“Here’s the thing, Jack, we’re not going with you,” she said. Jack’s face darkened. 

“What do you mean?” he said. 

“We appreciate everything you’ve done for us, but we really want to focus on getting home.” she said. 

“Huh… And here I thought you two would show some gratitude.”

“Listen here, you psychopath,” Rhys cut in, “You got us to Sanctuary, thanks, now leave us alone. We don’t owe you anything; you said so yourself.” 

“Psychopath, huh? Looks like Legs here has some balls after all.” Jack said, his voice cold, “And you’re right, you two didn’t promise me anything, I only asked. Fair’s fair, though, you’ve made your choice. Give me back that equipment I gave you, kiddos. I was going to let you keep it if you asked nicely, but hey, I didn’t promise anything either.” 

Whatever humanity he had shown earlier was gone as he slipped into an asshole persona, holding out his hand for them to relinquish their equipment. Fiona shot Rhys a look as she removed her shield and gun, handing them to Jack. They could have used him as an ally, dammit! At least Rhys waited until they were actually in Sanctuary before insulting the man who was responsible for getting them there alive. 

Still, at least they were done with Jack, and she didn’t have to stare at this crazy murderer any longer. This was still Handsome Jack, after all, even if this was a different world. He was unstable and untrustworthy, and wouldn’t be good for them in the long run. She knew this… and yet she couldn’t help but feel regret as she and Rhys walked away from Jack, and her mind kept returning to the picture she saw in the Crimson Raiders Headquarters. 

 

********************************************************************************************  
“I wanna picture of this moment.” Lilith smiled at the other Vault Hunters. All of them were covered with alien blood, the Destroyer dead, and each of them admiring their new loot. Lilith held up a camera. 

“Hell yeah,” Jack cheered. 

“No.” Roland said flatly

“Oh Come on, Roland, stop being such a spoilsport.” Lilith chirped. 

“Yeah!” Brick said. 

“I’ll take the picture,” Mordecai offered, “Blood can be in the picture with you guys. She’s the one that matters” Roland frowned; clearly about to make the same offer. Lilith handed Mordecai the camera and took a few steps back. 

“Alright, get in everyone!” she said. Jack got in the middle and swung his arms around Roland and Lilith, with Brick standing at his back and Bloodwing at his shoulder, the dead Destroyer and Vault opening behind them. 

“Say cheese or whatever,” Mordecai said. They all smiled, and Mordecai snapped the picture. 

Lilith bounced over to glance at the photo. 

“Not bad,” she grinned, then pouted “But Roland, you didn’t smile!” 

Roland muttered something quietly while Jack glanced at the photo. He would need to ask for a copy of it later

Lilith tapped his shoulder 

“ Hey Jack,” she said, “We’re going to head back to New Haven after this and get a few drinks at the bar; spend some of our hard-earned cash. You want to come with us,” 

“Thanks, but I think I’m going to hang out around here a little bit longer. Then I should probably head back to Hyperion before my boss realizes I missing” Jack said. Lilith shrugged. 

“Suit yourself, but one of these days you gotta buy me a drink, handsome,” she said with a wink, lightly touching his forearm.” 

Jack watched quietly as the other Vault Hunters left. When he was alone, he pulled out a small locket from under his shirt and popped it open, staring at his young daughter’s face. 

“Fucking Dammit!” he shouted, closing the locket and kicking at one of the Destroyer’s tentacles. He had hoped for something he could use from all of this, but instead he found tentacles and disappointment. 

His echo beeped. 

“John, where the hell are you?” Tassiter’s horrid voice filled his ear, “You’ve been getting behind in your work, and your travel records say you’re in some backwater planet called Pandora.” 

“I’ll get the work done, Tassiter,” Jack hissed, “And what do you care where I am?” 

“Did you forget, John? I own your miserable little ass; you don’t get to go anywhere without me telling you. I hope you found something of use out there, or I am going to have to take away some of your privileges.”

Before Jack could respond, the echo clicked off, and Jack was alone once more. Jack tore the echo from him and tossed it away and covered his face which was now leaking hot tears. 

“Shit,” he sobbed, “I’m sorry baby, I’m so so sorry.” 

His hunch hadn’t paid off, and now he was going to pay for it. She was going to pay for it. 

No, Jack scolded himself, taking a deep breath to steele himself. He’d find something on this backwater planet, even if he had to tear it apart with his own bare hands.

Jack went to pick up his echo and found it was by the Destroyer’s still eye.

“Heh, looks like I had to dodge those lasers for nothing,” Jack gave a bitter chuckle, then froze, an idea forming in his head. He glanced at the powerful, unblinking eye. Jack felt a little sick at what he was about to do, but he couldn’t return to Hyperion empty handed. 

He sent a call to Hyperion. Tassiter’s right hand man, Duncan, answered. 

“What is it John?” 

“Tell Tassiter I have something for him. I’m sending you the coordinates via echo.” 

“This better not be a waste of time,” Duncan growled. Jack stroked the eye with a gloved hand. 

“Don’t worry; it won’t be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was super nervous with the new dlc that it would screw stuff up by being too similar to what I was writing. Thankfully it's not.
> 
> If you enjoyed reading this PLEASE consider leaving a comment. It as a comment only a couple of days ago that got me to sit my butt down and actually finish this chapter.


	5. Fiona's Lead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fiona's having second thoughts about Rhys' rash decision to abandon Jack, and as she explores Sanctuary she realizes more and more how badly they could use his help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a mess, my plots are messy, but I'm okay with this cause how else will I grow? I got writer's block for a bit, and that's why this chapter may feel disjointed from the rest, but hopefully chapters will be a bit smoother after this.

The room Rhys and Fiona had been assigned to was small and cramped, and the only privacy it afforded was a curtain in between the other beds, but at least it was theirs. 

“That was a little rash,” Fiona said. Rhys shrugged. 

“Look, Fiona, I’ve played that little game with Jack before. It’s better to cut it off fast and give him no way back in.” 

“You don’t think we could have kept using him?

Rhys shook his head.

“No way; the longer we accept his help, the further in danger we are.” 

“You’re right, but I hate not having any leads.” 

“At least we’re in Sanctuary. We can figure something out now that we’re not being chased by bandits and skags. Have I mentioned I hate this planet?” 

“Many times. Now we need to find a way to get back to our own world,” Fiona sighed, sitting down on the bed. “I suppose we should start by finding a way to reassemble Gortys in order to reopen the vault. Hey, at least we’ve done this before!” 

“I still have Vasquez’s fast travel codes so we don’t need a rocket to get to Helios this time, and we know where all the pieces are located.” 

“I’m not looking forward to traveling again,” Fiona grumbled, “Getting to that Atlas biome facility was a nightmare, and this time I only have you to keep me company.” 

“We can grab Gortys first. She can keep our spirits up.” Rhys said, “Man, it’s going to be weird doing this without Vaughn.” 

“Or Sasha,” Fiona added. They glanced at each other and shared a sad smile. 

“I want to get back, Fiona,” Rhys said. She patted the side of their bed and he sat down next to her. She put her arm around him and leaned him against his shoulder. 

“We will get back, and we’ll have a hell of a story to share when we do. Sasha’s going to be so jealous! Maybe we can grab her a souvenir like a new gun. And maybe we can grab a shirt for Vaughn.” 

“I don’t think we’re ever gonna get him back into a shirt again,” Rhys laughed, “he seemed pretty happy to be free of it.” 

Fiona chuckled a little, remembering the shorter man fondly. 

“Who would have thought he would have had abs like that?” she said. Rhy’s eyes widened and he nodded. 

“I know, right? I was his best friend and even I never knew he had them.” 

Fiona grinned, then bit her lip nervously. 

“Speaking of six packs- Jack.” she said, “Wasn’t that, uh, weird?” 

Rhy’s eyes widened and he nodded. 

“Yes! Everyone at Hyperion just assumed he was using doubles for all of his shirtless pictures.”

“Looks like Vault Hunting in this world served him well. Anyways, we should probably rest a little before we move out. It’s been a long day.” 

She flopped back against the hard mattress and curled up. Rhys nestled up beside her, looking for warmth in the drafty living quarter. Fiona rolled her eyes, remembering how Rhys would cling to Vaughn as they slept in the caravan. She had hoped he would have toughened up a little, but no, Rhys was still as soft as ever. 

“If you drool on me I’m stealing your shoe again.” She sighed, closing her eyes. Rhys grunted in response. It wasn’t long before either of them drifted off to sleep. 

*****************************

Rhys limped after Fiona on their way to Sanctuary’s exit until he finally got fed up and took off his other shoe. 

“C’mon, this isn’t fair. My socks are getting ruined!” he whined. Fiona snorted and walked up to the fast travel station. The two guards nodded to her as she pulled up the destination screen. Her brow furrowed. 

“Hey, do you guys know the nearest station to Bossa Nova’s Death Rally? The location itself doesn’t seem to be here.” Fiona said, turning to the guards.

“You don’t want to go there- it’s infected.” one guard said. Fiona rolled her eyes.

“Look, I was raised here on Pandora; I’ve already been exposed to every virus there is; I’ll be fine.” 

“We’re not talking about Skag Flu here, that place got hit with the Angel’s kiss a few months ago and hasn’t been cleared out.” 

“So we’ll wear hazard masks.” Fiona shrugged. The two guards glanced at each other for a moment in silence then broke out laughing. 

“Hazard masks; That’s a good one!” one said, slapping their knee.

“Look, they don’t even have weapons!” the other said, throwing back their head. Fiona frowned. She was missing something here, and she didn’t like ‘missing’ something. 

She ignored their laughter and found the nearest transport station to the Death Rally in a little place called Cretin’s Crevice, which was still a long way away. It would take them at least a day to get there, and without proper supplies, they wouldn’t get very far. If only they could get themselves into the catch-a-ride system. 

Well, she conned Scooter once. Why not do it again? She shut down the fast travel system and straightened her back. Rhys raised an eyebrow but said nothing. 

“C’mon, Rhys. Let’s get going,” she said. Rhys followed her, and once they were out of earshot he pulled her aside.

“What are we going to do?” Rhys said, “I hope you have a plan.”

“Of course I have a plan,” Fiona scoffed, “I’m going to Scooters to see if I can get him to let us into his catch-a-ride systems. While I’m doing that, I need you to search the boxes in Sanctuary in case there are any spare weapons, ammo, or shields in them.” 

“Why would I find stuff like that in cardboard boxes?” Rhys asked, then shook his head, “You know what? It’s Pandora. I’m not going to question it.” 

They split up, with Rhys going to scavenge supplies as Fiona made a beeline towards Scooter’s shop. Her heart felt heavy as she stepped inside of his workshop and saw a familiar figure working beneath a Runner. 

“Hello?” Fiona called out. 

“Wha? Ow!” Scooter hit his head as he slipped out from underneath the car, rubbing his head, “Oh, hi there. Can I help you with something?” 

She froze. She thought she was ready, but she wasn’t. Tears pricked at her eyes.

“Uh, hello?” Scooter asked, pulling her from her stupor. She shook her head. 

“Yes, hello. I was wondering- could I uh, get access to your catch-a-ride?” she said, wincing as the words left her mouth. She was botching this up, badly. 

Scooter lifted his cap and scratched the hair underneath. 

“Normally I don’t, uh, give random strangers access unless they know someone. You got someone to vouch for you?” he asked. Fiona’s mind flitted through the people she had met and realized bitterly that Rhys pissing off Jack had likely ruined their chance to use him.” 

Before Fiona could answer, Rhys came running in, out of breath with a couple of white ranked weapons in his hands. 

“Fiona!” he shouted, “Zer0’s here! He’s going off to fight or something; there’s an attack on Sanctuary going on right now.” he panted out.

“Wait, what? Slow down!” Fiona said, putting her hands on his shoulders. Rhys nodded and gulped air, the excitement clear in his eyes. 

“Sanctuary is under attack or something, and Zer0 rushed out to defend it,” he said. 

“Sanctuary’s under attack?” Fiona glanced out of the shop door and noticed that Sanctuary was mostly… calm. No bombs or gunshots or sirens. 

“Aw, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, man. It happens once a week or so; probably some bandit clan or another.” Scooter said. 

“And Zer0 was there?” Fiona asked, watching Rhy’s expression carefully as he nodded. He wanted to go watch but was also nervous about getting too close to the action. At least, he would be if Fiona didn’t go with him. She outwardly rolled her eyes, but inwardly she realized this was a perfect excuse to get out of this conversation with Scooter, maybe try again a little later.” 

“I should-uh- go with him. We’ll finish this up some other time. Thanks Scooter!” she said. 

“Okay, yeah. See you, man.” Scooter said, clearly puzzled by the whole exchange. 

Fiona followed Rhys out of the shop, plucking a few items from his hands to lighten his load as he led her to one of the town’s walls. He clambered up onto one of the many crates while Fiona hurriedly clipped one of the shields he gathered onto the hem of his pants while he remained oblivious. Once he was standing up, he offered her a hand up and she joined him, clipping on her own new shield before peeking over the edge. 

Sure enough, the land below was a small battlefield. The Vault Hunters (Fiona recognized them from their many, many wanted posters plastered around Pandora) were single-handedly taking out large groups of bandits while backup units fired from farther away. 

“There they are!” Rhys said gleefully, pointing to a blur in the crowd, “I bet we’ll see them do that thing!!!”

While Rhys’ eyes were following Zer0 closely, Fiona's eyes wandered around the battlefield. The Vault Hunters seemed to have no problem dispatching the many bandits which surrounded the area, and relaxed when she realized that Sanctuary really wasn’t in any risk. She tensed again when she saw a stray bullet nearly hitting Rhys (who was oblivious to it) but beyond that, it was just fun to watch the fight. 

The Vault Hunters moved with skill that Fiona envied. Gaige was chaotic but mowed down men with ease. Axton stood strong behind his turret. Maya raised enemies into the air with a purple glow all while still firing her gun. Salvador was a powerhouse as he fired two guns at once. And of course, there was Zer0, tricking enemy after enemy. Fiona distantly wondered what her ‘special skill’ would be as a Vault Hunter.

There were two other people on the field, ones that Fiona didn’t recognize from the wanted posters, however she still recognized them. There was the fresh, friendly face of Timothy who was expertly throwing grenades into the thick of battle, and then there was Jack. 

Fiona hadn’t gotten the chance to see much of Jack in action, as the two times he had needed to pull out his weapons Fiona was busy running. Now she had nothing interfering with her watching him and she was...damn impressed. 

It was like watching Athena. He moved with a fluidity and confidence that she envied and admired, expertly dispatching enemies while also avoiding getting harmed himself. It was everything she admired about Vault Hunters rolled up in this… enigma of a man. He was Handsome Jack, the terror of Pandora and yet he was also this skilled Vault Hunter. 

Maya took a knee, having gotten shot in the torso. Jack, to Fiona’s surprise, vaulted over several bandits to get to her, providing her a healing hypo and some cover as she got to her feet. Then she saw him do it again with Salvador. 

This wasn’t right! Yet every time she thought of Jack as some big monster, he proved he had an altruistic ride. Fiona recalled something Rhys had said when recounting the tale of finding Gortys. Holo-Jack had been talking to Rhys and mentioned that he always looked out for his team. Fiona had assumed that part of the story was a ploy on Jack’s part, but here he was… but in the end he tried to kill Rhys. What was the true nature of Jack’s character?

She closed her eyes and bit her lip. This wasn’t the same world, and this wasn’t the same Jack. Maybe this one really was different. Maybe she could still use him, ask his forgiveness, promise to help and use him to get what they wanted. It was a better plan than trying to go at this alone. 

She hated feeling like this. She was lost and on uneven footing, unsure of herself. If only Sasha were here....

But her sister wasn’t. She had to be the leader here and take charge if they were going to move forward. The trick would be convincing Rhys to give Jack a second chance. 

“Zer0!” Rhys gasped. Fiona’s eyes snapped open and she looked were Zer0 was on the battlefield. The assassin was on the ground after several bullets ripped through their shield. Fiona watched as Jack once more rushed to the fallen team member’s side. 

“Is that Jack? No way. That has to be Tim or something…” Rhys said. 

“Tim is over there,” Fiona said, pointing to where Timothy was fighting alongside Gaige, their red hair stark in the battlefield. 

“No. Jack wouldn’t- this has gotta be some sort of game he’s playing, gaining their trust before betraying them,” Rhys said. 

“Look, Rhys. We don’t know this Jack. Maybe we were a bit too hasty. And by we, I mean mostly you.”   
Rhys frowned, then put his arms around Fiona and held her close. 

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said.

“I have you to watch my back. I just want to get home and he may be the best option we have.” 

“What if this is all a trap?” Rhys asked, “What if he’s the same and will betray us?” 

“Then we still have each other. We’ll trust each other before anyone else, okay? But right now, we could use an ally.” 

Rhys pulled away and nodded. 

“I’d prefer if we tried to find someone else to help,” he said, “Why can’t we get Zer0 or Gaige?” 

Fiona gazed out onto the battlefield, with the Vault Hunters quickly chasing out the rest of the bandits, yet her eyes lingered on Jack. In truth, she didn’t have a solid reason for choosing Jack, but something kept drawing her to him. 

“He’s our best bet,” she said finally. 

“Are you sure?” Rhys asked. In truth, Fiona wasn’t, but instead she gave him a curt nod. 

“Yes. Now let’s hope an apology will be enough to win him over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey if you liked this chapter please consider leaving a comment, I love hearing from you guys!


	6. Finding Favor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting Jack's help again is harder then any of them thought, thankfully Rhys and Fiona get a little bit of help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UGh the amount of edits this went through is obscene, this is my 4th draft this bad boy has went through. 
> 
> HUGE shoutout to DualDreamer for helping me with this fic, and if you haven't checked out her work yet, go do so. She's incredible and has some well crafted stories out there.   
> Here's her link: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DualDreamer/pseuds/DualDreamer

Rhys bounced on his heels as they waited at Sanctuary’s entrance. 

“Why do I have to apologize to him? You’re better at talking to people!” Rhys said. 

“I didn’t insult him to his face, either. Besides, weren’t you a middle manager? Isn’t smooth talking your whole ‘gig’?”

“And look where that got me; stuck in another dimension with you.” Rhys jabbed her in the side with her elbow with a grin. 

They continued to wait as several vault hunters passed by them. Rhys stared at Zer0 as he passed .

“Are you sure you want Jack? Can’t we just use another vault hunter?” he asked. 

“Do you suddenly have enough cash to pay their fees?” Fiona asked. Rhys slumped, and Fiona nudged him as Jack came through the gate, chatting with Maya. Rhys stumbled over with Fiona walking closely behind.

“Jack, I’m so glad I caught you; hey, I’m sorry for what I said before,” Rhys began awkwardly while Jack stared at him, “Look, it wasn’t fair to judge you on the actions of a past Jack… I’m just trying to protect Fiona and I, but I shouldn’t have said what I did. We’d love to take you up on that offer, and will do the best we can to help you until we’re able to find a way home. We really could use your help.” 

“Wow, Rhys, uh, I really appreciate this, but I’m not Jack” ‘Jack’ moved his hand to the side of his jacket and pressing the center of the pocket watch. Suddenly Jack’s image melted away and Tim stood in his place.

“Wha- why would you be Jack...I don’t under-” Rhys stuttered. 

“It helps confuse enemies when we fight together. That, and it confuses any bounty hunters that try to nab him.” Tim explained. 

“Well then where is Jack?” Fiona asked.

“Somewhere in Three Horns I guess, doing his own thing like he always does.” Tim shrugged, “There wasn’t a whole lot keeping him here.” 

Fiona cursed and was on the verge of screaming. Rhys stepped in. 

“Is there any way to find him?” he asked. 

“I guess I could trace him through his echo as long as he hasn’t blocked it.” Tim said, “Does this really mean that much to you guys?” 

“Yes!” Fiona snapped, “Unless you know of any other Vault Hunters willing to work for free.”

“Fair enough. I’ll just pull up Jack’s location then,” Tim said, burying himself in his echo device. He fiddled around for a few moments before brightening.

“Ha, you’re in luck, I can send you the location and you two can drive out to meet him.” Tim said. 

Fiona bit her knuckle to silence a scream as Rhys winced. 

“Actually, could you get us a car or something? We aren’t exactly authorized in the systems yet.” Rhys explained. 

“Right, I’ll just drive you there then.” Tim said, shifting uncomfortably, “We’ll work out a payment for my services later.” 

Fiona muttered something about ‘damn vault hunters’ as she followed Rhys and Tim outside of Sanctuary. 

Tim quickly digistructed a car. Rhys pushed himself to the front, shooting Fiona a look to dare her to challenge him for the front. She sighed and climbed into the back while Timothy brought the engine to life. 

Rhys enjoyed this car ride much more than the previous one; Tim was a smooth and considerate driver, and would often shout out warnings before they got close to hitting something.

“You’re a lot nicer of a driver than Jack,” Rhys said. 

“Yeah?” Tim asked. 

“Rhys is just a baby,” Fiona chimed in from the back. 

“Excuse you, I handled half the caravan being ripped off by a rakk hive. Jack’s just a maniac.” 

“I keep saying he’s going to kill himself one of these days with the way he drives,” Tim said, shaking his head. 

“What can you tell us about Jack? You seem to know him pretty well,” Rhys said. 

“Jack? He’s, well… he’s Jack. I’ve known him for several years after I was hired to be his assistant on Helios. I’ve been through a lot with him; more than most people have.” 

“Do you trust him?” Rhys asked. 

Tim hesitated and sucked in a sharp breath. 

“It depends on what.” Tim admitted, “He can be a bit wild and unpredictable, but when you’ve earned his loyalty… He’d move the stars themselves for you.” 

There was a moment of silence. Rhys stared down at his hands and Fiona looked up towards the sky at the rakks lazily circling overhead, everyone caught up in thought. Fiona tried to imagine what the sky would look like with all the stars rearranged when Tim cleared his throat. 

“So, what exactly made you guys change your mind about Jack?” he said. 

“A lot of reasons,” Fiona said,” One, he’s the only one on Pandora who’s offered to help us, and favors don’t come cheap on this world. Two, he seems to have the skills and equipment necessary. There’s a lot of people who say they can help you hunt vaults but don’t have the skills to do so. Three… I don’t know, I’m trusting my instincts. Jack from our world was a serious piece of work. I’d sooner spit on him than accept his help, but I don’t get the same feeling from this one. I’ve made a career out of trusting my gut, so I guess I have to follow it through.” 

“And you, Rhys?” Tim asked. 

“I’m mostly trusting Fiona on this.” He admitted. 

Timothy looked like he was about to say something, but his echo interrupted with a small chirp. 

“Ha! We’re nearly there. Looks like Jack is… right over that impassable ridge. Dammit.” 

“Is there any way through it?” Fiona asked. 

“Sure, if you’re willing to climb, but the car’s not going to get you there.” Tim said, pulling the car to a stop. 

“Then it looks like we’re going to climb,” Fiona sighed. 

“It also looks like this is where I’ll have to leave you,” Tim said, his echo chirping once more, “I made a few promises to Maya after the battle that I really can’t be late for.” 

“How are we going to get back?” Rhys blanched. 

“Looks like you’ll just have to get back in Jack’s good graces or be prepared to walk.” Tim said, “Here, I’ll give you my echo number just in case.”

Tim stretched out his hand, expecting Rhys to hand him an echo for him to put his information in. Rhys blushed a little, activating his arm to pull up a touchpad and placed his robotic hand in Tim’s. 

Tim raised an eyebrow and typed in his information. 

“Nice implants,” he said when he had finished. 

“Thanks.” Rhys pulled back his arm a bit too hastily and quickly clambered out of the technical, not bothering to look back even as he fell on the icy earth. 

Fiona defty leapt off the back and offered her hand to help Rhys up. 

“Thanks Tim!” Fiona shouted, waving as Tim drove off, “We owe you one.” 

Rhy’s arm pinged. 

“U owe me cash” Tim texted. Fiona groaned. Damn Vault Hunters. 

She glanced up at the small mountain they were expected to climb. 

“You ready Rhys?” she asked. Rhys looked up from staring at his arm. 

“Uh, yeah.” He said. 

“Good, cause this’ll be a rough trip.” 

*******************************************************

Thankfully, Fiona was experienced enough climbing that the trip wasn’t too rough. Rhys, however, was a little worse for wear as they reached the summit, gasping each breath and layed on the ground. Fiona rolled her eyes and ignored him, scanning the top to see if Jack really was up there. She saw a figure in the distance and her heart leapt. 

“I think we found him.” she said. 

“Great, great, I think I’m just going to lie here… and die.” Rhys muttered. Fiona nudged him with the toe of her boot. 

“Come on!” she said. 

Rhys grumbled and pushed himself onto his feet, following Fiona towards the figure. 

Jack was perched on the edge of a cliff, sniper in hand as he zeroed in on a Bullymong den, waiting. 

“Jack” Fiona called out. He didn’t move. 

“Sup, asshats.” he said flatly, “To what do I owe this displeasure?” 

“Jack, we came to apologize, and ask for your help.” Fiona said. 

“Oooh, so NOW you want my help now that you realized Pandora’s a big tough world, didn't cha? Well forget it losers, Jack’s working on his own for a bit.” 

“We came to apologize, you asshole, and you’re just going to blow us off?” Rhys shouted. Jack raised an eyebrow and turned his head to face Rhys. 

“Wow, some apology there. Now I totally want to work with you, especially now that you’ve called me an asshole.” Jack snorted and turned back to his sniper scope. Fiona thwacked Rhys on the back of his head. 

“Smooth, Rhys, smooth.” She snarled. Jack chuckled and pulled away from his sniper, slowly standing up and dusting himself off. 

“Alright, I’ll tell you what, kiddos, you let me sock Legs here in the face just once, and i’ll listen to whatever you two have to say, no snarky comments. Deal?” 

“Deal,” Fiona agreed. 

“Wait-!” Rhys began, but was cut short as Jack punched him hard in the face. Pain bloomed from his nose along with spurts of blood as he reeled back, Fiona catching him before he could collapse. Jack shook his hand out and grinned. 

“That was satisfying."

“I think my nose is broken.” Rhys said, trying to find a way to stop the flow of blood without causing worse pain. 

“Oh, yeah, it's definitely broken” Jack said. 

“Why does this always happen to me?” Rhys moaned. He gave her a dirty look as if she had been the one who hit him and she shrugged.

“To be fair, you were supposed to apologize and instead you insult him again, so I think you deserved it at this point.” Fiona offered. Rhys shot her a dirty look. 

“Alright, pumpkin, so what do you need?” Jack asked.

“We want to take you up on your offer. We’ll help you if you help us.” Fiona said. 

“And what exactly do you need help with, cupcake?” 

“Getting back home.” Fiona said. 

“Details, sweetheart.” 

Fiona sighed. 

“We need to assemble a vault key in the form of a giant robot, Gortys, which means we need to reassemble her parts, which means we need access to places that are banned from fast travel systems because of some weird disease outbreaks. So we need a car, and we’re not about to join the crimson raiders to get it, and we don’t have the funds to pay another vault hunter.” 

“Alright, you had me right up till the disease part; I haven’t heard of any new outbreaks,” Jack said. 

“It’s called, like… Angel’s something…” Rhys said. Jack blanched. 

“Angel’s kiss.” he said quietly, “You don’t know what the Angel’s Kiss is?” 

“No, it doesn’t exist in our world.” Fiona said, “What is it?” 

“That,” Jack said, “Is a complicated question. I think you need to see it for yourself. C’mon kiddos, I’ve got something to show you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Time for real talk fellas. My mental health has taken a nosedive and I'm in the middle of university, and with BL3 coming out, the future of this fic is a little shaky, but I promise I will finish it. Y'all will just have to be super patient with me.
> 
> I hope that even after borderlands 3 comes out you will still want to read this. It's a huge fear that I have that this will be forgotten by readers, so please leave your support for this fic!   
> -Last


	7. The Angel's Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack shows Rhys and Fiona what the Angel's Kiss is, and shadows of his past come back to haunt him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been waiting on this chapter for waaaay too long. Didn't come out perfectly like I pictured, but it's out. Also a HUGE shoutout to Mossie55 ( https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mossie55/pseuds/Mossie55 ) for proofreading this bad boy for me and making sure the tone fits. They're fantastic.

Jack was silent as he slid down the hill with Fiona and Rhys following in suit, skidding down the icy slope, taking them to a small rock outcropping rock where he had hid his runner. 

“I wasn’t really expecting other people to be here with me, so there’s only one other seat. So who’s sitting in whose lap?” While Jack gave a wink, he was missing his usual candor. Something about the Angel’s Kiss business had him shaken.

“I can hang onto the side.” Fiona said. 

“Damn, you got balls kiddo.” 

“It comes with the territory.” She said with a shrug helping Rhys into the turret seat. 

“You sure about this? I don’t want you getting hurt.” he said. 

“I’ll be fine, Rhys. You should have seen me in my younger days when the caravan was full of counterfeit goods- Sasha and I had to ride on the sides because there wasn’t any room inside or on top for either of us.” 

“Hey, are you two lovebirds ready to go?” 

“Just a sec,” Fiona jumped onto the side of the runner, straddling the area between the driver's seat and the turret, keeping her head away from the barrel of the turret’s gun as Jack revved the engine and they sped off. 

Fiona was quickly learning how to appreciate how gentle Tim’s driving from earlier was, especially now that she didn’t have anything securing her. Still, she relished the thrill every time Jack went over a ridge and sent the car soaring through the air and crashing back down. That was, until Jack had to slam on the breaks and it sent her tumbling forward. 

Jack’s arms caught her before she could fall, pulling her into the driver’s seat with him. She was expecting some witty remark, but he said nothing as he continued driving. 

“Shit! Are you okay Fiona?” Rhys asked. 

“Yeah,” She said.

“I can make room up here for you to sit with me,” Rhys offered. Fiona shook her head. 

“I’m good down here.” 

As they drove, Fiona watched Jack’s face carefully. She was caught up in a profound sense of sadness his expression provoked as he stared at the road in front of them, his jaw clenched. It wasn’t what she expected from Jack at all. 

Jack pulled to a stop beside a fast travel station. 

“Alright kiddos, either of you ever been to new haven?” 

“Is that the same thing as old haven?” Rhys whispered to Fiona, who shook her head. 

“When Old Haven fell people fled to what they called “New Haven.” it was a decent city, which is rare as far as Pandoran cities go. I never went there myself, but it always sounded pretty nice, until Handsome-” Fiona stopped herself, “Until Hyperion destroyed it.” 

“Huh, well, something very similar happened here, only New Haven wasn’t destroyed,” Jack set in the fast ravel codes and soon they were digistructing elsewhere. 

Fiona’s feet landed in a rubbish pile. She grimaced and shook off her shoes to get the gunk off as Rhys did the same. Jack, however, began climbing a small hill of trash until he stood tall on top of it, staring at whatever lay beyond in some sort of dark reverence.

“This- is new Haven.” Jack said. Fiona and Rhys climbed up behind them, and FIona furrowed her brow in confusion. 

In her world, New Haven was rubble and dust, and she expected much the same. What she didn’t expect was it to be built up, nicer than most other settlements she had visited. There were even people standing around, psychos and bandits and old Crimson Lance members. 

“What are we looking at?” Fiona asked. 

“An Angel’s Kiss infestation.” he said. 

“It doesn’t look like anything,” Rhys blurted out. 

“Yeah, it really doesn’t, does it?” Jack sighed, “But look closer- what’s wrong with the people?” 

“They’re...very still, and quiet.” Fiona said, “And they’re not fighting- they’re not even moving.” 

“Bingo, give this girl a cookie.” Jack snorted, “And do you know why that is? They’re dormant.” 

Jack gestured for them to follow him as he slid down the trash pile and moved onto another one where a bandit corpse lay. He nudged it with his foot so it rolled over. He bent down and uncovered the base of the bandit’s neck. 

“This is the Kiss.” 

It was a small implant spreading out in the vague shape of Angel wings. Jack grimaced and pulled out a knife and began hacking at the small device to twist it from the body’s neck. With a sharp tug, the device pulled up with a sick rip along with bundles of nerves. Rhys gagged and turned away. 

“The kiss is an implant Hyperion spread across Pandora, loaded into bullets that will attach to the spinal nerves to take over a host with an AI, making you obey Hyperion and spread the implant further. This was the first place they hit. Taking out the rebellion against Hyperion before it started.” 

Jack used his knife to cut away the rest of the nerves so he could hold it up for them to see better. 

“Is that safe?” Rhys asked. 

“It’s dormant. Just like the rest of those people in New Haven; the AI isn’t active. Early units would make people shut down when the AI wasn’t active, but then Hyperion just got smarter. Now you can be infected and not even realize it until it activates. We’ve lost a lot of good people to these ‘sleepers’. And if we don’t find a way to stop the spread- to stop Hyperion- well… We lose more than just our lives.” 

Rhys and FIona shot each other a look, a sense of dread filling the silence. 

Jack broke it by speaking again. 

“Anyways, now you know what the Angel’s Kiss is, and why we can’t go to an infested area ‘cause the second we go into an active area we’ll be jumped and injected.” 

“Are we even safe here?” Rhys shivered. 

“Hell no, but this place has been dormant for a while, and you gotta love the dramatic effect.” Jack grinned, his sober, pensive attitude melting away and his old self returning. 

“You’re an asshole.” Fiona said. 

“But it got my point across.” Jack pointed out. 

It was true, Fiona felt a sobering air at the whole thing. She got the impression that while Jack dismissed it with his words, this meant a lot to him. Something more was going on. And seeing it for herself left a deep, sobering feeling inside of her. It made it feel real to her, put her in touch with this world. 

“How do we stop it?” Fiona asked. 

“The Angel’s kiss? Well, we’ve tried a lot of different things. The first one is ripping the damn thing out, and you can see how well that works out.” Jack pointed to the corpse and Rhys made a face, “So we have to destroy the programming itself, namely the AI. We gotta destroy Angel-”   
Jack’s voice choked up for a moment, barely noticeable, but FIona picked up on it. She raised an eyebrow but said nothing. 

“So you want us to take down this Angel thingy?” Rhys asked. 

“Yup.” Jack said, “You got it, Rhysie.” 

Rhys’s fingers began twitching in excitement, his brain coming up with different ideas. 

“Which means you have to find a way to bypass hyperion electronic blockades, and decrypting the system, and-”

“Yup,” Jack said, “We know, princess. What do you think I’ve been working on all this time?” 

Rhys bit his lip, the excitement in his eyes fading a little. 

“Everyone, be quiet!” Fiona hissed , holding up her finger; she thought she heard something rustling. Was it a skag? A rakk? Some psycho? Both men froze, and she tilted her head ever so slightly to see if she could clarify the source of the noise. 

Jack did the same. 

Shaky, sloppy footsteps were coming from one of the other trash piles. Jack tensed and raised his gun as a psycho rounded the corner. However, the psycho didn’t lunge immediately. Instead it cocked its head to the side. 

“D-d-daddy?” it said, it’s voice softer than anything Fiona had heard from a psycho before, “Dad… they- AGHHHHHHHH!!!” 

The psycho then lunged, its buzz axe arcing in the air before the crack of a gunshot ripped through the air and the thing’s head popped with a spray of blood and was sent tumbling down harmlessly to their feet. 

Fiona saw a flash of light from the psycho and bent down to see the half broken Angel’s Kiss embedded in its neck. The thing was blinking wildly. Was this some sort of alarm?

“Jack?” Fiona asked. He stared down at the psycho, unmoving. She moved her hand in front of him to shock him out of his stupor. 

“Hey, Jack, should we be worried about this?” Fiona pointed down. Jack blinked a couple of times before glancing down. 

“Oh. Yeah.” he said distantly. 

“So we should get going then, right? We’ve seen all we needed to.” Rhys said, fiddling his hands nervously. 

“Yeah let’s head back.” Jack said, carefully skidding down the pile to the travel station and began typing in with shaking fingers and they soon digistructed back to Sanctuary’s station. 

Fiona immediately turned to Jack.

“What the hell was that?” she demanded.

“That was the Angel’s Kiss, sweetheart,” Jack said, licking his lips, his eyes darting towards the station’s exit, “Now, I’m gonna give you two some time to process this and meet again later.” 

Fiona grabbed his arm roughly. 

“No, you’re gonna stay here until you tell us what just happened with you.” She said. 

“I just wasn’t expecting company there- that place is deserted normally.” Jack forced a shaky laugh. Fiona wasn’t amused. 

“What aren’t you telling us, Jack?”

He took a deep breath, something inside of him looking like it was breaking ever so slightly. Fiona and Rhys both waited with bated breath for him to speak, and he finally did with a shaky voice. 

“The AI controlling the Kiss- she’s not just an AI. She’s my daughter.” 

**********************************************************

Jack’s life was wrapped up in his little girl. He would do anything to see that sweet smile. It didn’t matter how often he was called ‘John’ at work, or how often he was yelled at for coding something wrong, he would always come home to his daughter shrieking and running to him.

He would catch her up in his arms and press kisses into her hair while she giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then he would get to kiss his sweet wife as she greeted him. 

Life couldn’t get better than that. 

And then Angel changed. Blue tattoos formed onto her skin one day when she was playing with one of her favorite teddy bears, and Jack discovered that his baby girl was a siren. Jack stayed up until late hours of the night researching all he could on sirens until his wife would sleepily come over and ask him to come to bed. 

Then there was an incident that served as a crossroads for the small family. 

A bandit, Grogmouth, had grabbed Angel, seeing her tattoos and recognizing her as a siren. Angel kicked and screamed, and Jack and his wife both pleaded to let her go, she was just a kid!

A Hyperion turret crackled with Angel’s siren magic and fired, ripping through the air with several cracks. 

The bandit fell, ripped through with bullets. Angel’s mother screamed.

Jack’s heart froze at the sound of his wife screaming. After securing Angel, he ran to her. 

“Honey, are you okay?” he asked. His wife stirred, a grimace in her features. 

“Yeah,” she said, wincing and grabbing at her lightly bleeding arm “I think a bullet grazed me. I was more startled than anything else. Sorry for worrying you.”

Jack kept feeling like he should do more, a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he should do something, but it never quite fell as urgent as finishing that last line of code. Besides, Angel had her mother taking care of her. 

He still kept half finished plans on his computer, a way to control Angel’s powers, but there wasn’t that overwhelming need. After all, there were no more incidents like with the turrets. 

Things fell back into their normal rhythm, without the sense of urgency they may have once had. 

Jack stretched his back as he walked back to his home from the office, enjoying watching the sun set in the sky, looking forward to kissing his wife and hugging his daughter. 

A Hyperion vehicle flew in the sky past him, followed by several others, kicking up the wind and making Jack guard his eyes from the dust they kicked up. 

It wasn’t entirely unusual to see hyperion ships like that- this was, after all, Hyperion territory, but something about this made his hair stand on end, especially when one of the vehicles suddenly short circuited with a flash of blue and white, much like Angel’s phase shift ability, before regaining flight control.

Jack broke off into a sprint towards his apartment, pushing past other people on the street and running into traffic as vehicles honked at him angrily. 

The apartment building was a terrifying sight, with windows blown out and several of his neighbors lying dead in pools of their own blood. Electricity still rippled through the power boxes, causing dangerous sparks. 

The door to Jack’s apartment was already kicked open and broken. Jack ran inside and his blood ran cold. 

The place was trashed- the electronics had all blown up and bullet holes lined the area. Worst of all was Jack’s own wife lying on the ground, riddled with bullet wounds. 

“No- No NO NO NO NO!!!!” Jack screamed and ran to his wife’s side. He was about to cradle her head in his lap when he saw the telltale blue light of an echo tucked into her arm. He blinked past his tears and grabbed it. 

“Hello, John,” came an unfamiliar voice, “This is head of Hyperion Securities, Duncan, speaking. Oh boy, where do I start? You thought you could hide a Siren from Hyperion? You didn’t try to hide her away or anything!” 

“Daddy!” Angel’s voice came from the echo.

“Hey, get that girl to shut up!” Duncan barked at one of his men, and there was the sound of Angel being muffled. 

“Anyways, where were we- oh yeah. You didn’t try to hide her or anything? Dumb move there, John. But don’t worry, Hyperion will keep her nice and safe. Tassiter has some awesome plans with her, and you’re gonna help! Tomorrow you’re going to be moved to Hyperion headquarters and help us build some new projects. You keep Tassiter happy, and maybe you’ll get to see your daughter from time to time? Sound good? Sounds great.

Oh, and sorry about the mess we left in your crappy apartment, your wife just wouldn’t stop fighting us. That was stupid as hell of her. Alright, well, see ya tomorrow, John!” 

All Jack could do after that was pick up the broken pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, if you're enjoying this fic, I'm also starting another one, Tales from Dragon's Keep, which I think you may like (https://archiveofourown.org/works/20588630/chapters/48879680) I'm going to try to switch off which one I'm updating at a time.   
> As always, thank you for reading, and thank you for putting up with me. I'm really excited for where this fic is going. Strap in kiddos, it's only gonna get crazier from here.


	8. Small Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack opens up about his feelings, while Rhys opens up some secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, this chapter has a non explicit sex scene in it. IF that bothers you, you can stop reading after the scene with Rhys and Gaige ends!

“Wait- A daughter?” Fiona said. 

“Angel.” Rhys mumbled. Jack turned to Rhys in surprise.

“In the other world you mentioned you had a daughter named Angel.” Rhys explained quietly, “You wanted to visit her. We never did.” 

“I’d do anything to see my daughter again.” Jack growled, “God, I need a drink. I didn’t expect to hear her voice in a friggin’ psycho.” 

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, his face screwed up in grief and annoyance. Fiona put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“Let’s get back to Sanctuary, where Moxxi’s is just around the corner.” she suggested. 

“Yeah, okay.” Jack said, “blackout drunk sounds nice.” 

He smacked the fast travel station and they were soon digistructing back to Sanctuary’s entrance. After a quick search, Jack made a beeline to Moxxi’s with Fiona walking with him until she noticed that Rhys wasn’t following them. 

“Hey, Rhys, are you coming?” she asked. Rhys shook his head. 

“Nah, I got to work on something,” He mumbled, fiddling with his arm. Fiona shrugged and continued following Jack.

The walk was silent as Jack moved briskly through the town, carrying his discontent on his shoulders like a heavy cloak. 

“You… want to talk about it?” Fiona offered. 

“Not without several beers in me.” he grunted. 

“Well, we’re about to fix that, aren’t we?” she said. Jack cracked a grim smile. 

“Yeah.” 

As soon as they got into Moxxi’s, Mad Moxxi herself walked out from behind the bar to greet them, her arms stretched wide and a smile on her painted face 

“Jack! It’s so nice to see you in here- It’s been too long,” she purred. 

“Not now, Mox.” Jack said. She gave a perfect little pout with her red lips. 

“Aw, do you need something special, sugar? In the back? Or on your back?” she suggested. 

“I said not now!” he snapped. 

Fiona expected Moxxi to be huffy, however instead the woman’s expression softened and she nodded in understanding.

“Oh,” she said, “I’ll go get you a drink right away, Jack.” 

She dropped her act as she said his name, and FIona wondered what history they had between them, and how much Moxxi knew about Jack’s past. Did she know about Angel? Fiona decided to save these questions for another day as she and Jack slid into a booth in the corner, away from prying eyes. The thrum of the music was quieter there as well, and the shadows deeper. It was the perfect place to be made to forget for a little while. 

Moxxi stopped by shortly with a bottle of whiskey and a glass in her hands, placing it in front of JAck. 

“On the house, sugar” she said to Jack, and then, turning to Fiona she added, “Anything for you hun?” she asked Fiona, who shook her head. If she was about to deal with a drunk Jack she wanted a clear head.

She watched Jack pour himself a drink and chase it down without pausing, as if he was taking a shot. He grimaced over the burn but was soon pouring himself another. This one he savored, holding it up in his hands as he stared at it. 

“I forget,” he began slowly, his voice a little rough. “I forget that sometimes I’ll still run into her, and not the program they use to control her.” 

“What happened?” Fiona asked. 

“Hyperion happened.” Jack said, “You know, she was my whole world. Me and my little girl. She’d be 23 now.” 

“That’s as old as Sasha.” Fiona said. 

“Sasha?” 

“My sister; It was just the two of us for a long time.”

“Yeah?” Jack asked, knocking back the glass and pouring himself another.

“I almost lost her once. I can’t imagine what it would be like to know she was being used like that.” Fiona reached out her hand comfortingly, lightly touching Jack’s knuckles. He didn’t pull away. Instead he moved his hands so that their fingertips were touching. Their eyes met, and there was a spark. A shiver ran through Fiona as Jack grabbed the rest of her hand, holding it tight as if she were the only lifeboat in a torrential storm. 

She stared at his hand a moment, noticing how rough his calloses were, the deep scars that ran through them. She noticed one in particular was deep and stained with purple lines, and she wondered distantly about the eridium on this world. But soon enough her attention was pulled to his face, and the soft, vulnerable look on his features, one she thought she’d never see on those features.

It felt natural as she leaned forward, her eyes closed, pulled by his touch. One of his hands slid up to her neck, guiding her, and their lips met softly, brushing against each other in a chaste way. The kiss was brief, but gentle, and soon after they pulled away from each other. Her eyelashes fluttered open. Jack ran his thumb over Fiona’s cheek and gave her a sad smile, and moved his hand back to Fiona’s, clasping it tightly. 

They stayed like that for a moment, staring at each other as it finally hit what they had just done, and finally she let out a deep breath and returned his smile with one of her own. 

Jack turned from her gaze, glancing down at the whiskey glass for a moment before flicking them to FIona’s hands, running his thumb along them. 

“Tell me more about Sasha,” his voice cracked, and she saw just how many sad lines shone through his features.

FIona squeezed his hand in return and began telling him about her amazing sister. 

 

***************************

After getting back to Sanctuary, Rhys’ arm began flashing- something was trying to message him, but it wasn't quite getting through.

He was curious; he didn’t know anyone from this universe, or rather, no one knew him. So who was trying to get through? It piqued his curiosity enough that he declined to join Fiona and Jack at the bar. 

He wandered back to his living quarters, tinkering it with it the whole time. He wasn’t watching where he was going, and he bumped into Gaige.

“Sorry!” he said. 

“You're all good, man, I get like that with my arm too sometimes. What are you working on?” she peered over and grabbed at his wrist. 

“I, uh, got a message on my arm, but I can’t seem to unlock it.” he said. 

“Oh, I can probably help with that. How about you come to my workshop, we’ll see if we can crack that sucker open.” 

“Uh-” Rhys bit his lip. 

“I got everything you’d need, c’mon!” she said, not waiting for a response as to whether or not he actually wanted this before grabbing his arm and dragging him through sanctuary. 

“It’s been forever since I've been able to tinker with someone else’s arm, ‘cause apparently people don’t ‘trust’ you when you’re only 18.” she huffed, “Hey, do you think while we’re looking into this whole arm thing I could add cool weapons to it?” 

“Um, no?” Rhys said, stumbling a little as she turned sharply towards a building, still holding his hand. 

“Ugh, why is everyone so boring?” she kicked open the door to the building, “Well, here we are, casa de Gaige or whatever. Not as nice as Scooter’s, but it’s one hundred percent me.” her chest rose a little with pride as she surveyed the scene.

Rhys gave a forced smile- it was clear she was pleased with her little workshop but Rhys was taken aback at how cluttered everything was. Bits and pieces of robots lay strewn across every surface as well as miscellaneous tools and gadgets. Gaige ran her arm across one of the tables, pushingall of the items to the side so she could work. 

“Gimme your arm, and I promise, no weird weaponry.” she said, grabbing a handheld computer from the ground and plugging in a wire connection, holding the other end expectantly. 

“So, my entire system is connected through my eye and side port, so please be gentle- AGH!” Gaige jabbed the end into his head without finesse or warning, causing Rhys whole system to send sparks through his body. 

“So this should give me access to your arm, yeah?” she asked, beginning to type at the small computer. 

“OW!” Rhys said in response, rubbing the area around his port. 

“That’s not an answer, but it looks like I’m in.” she said, “Huh. You got some weird stuff in here. Is this… Atlas tech?” 

“Yeah,” Rhys said. 

“Wow. I never thought I’d get my hands on anything made by Atlas that was still functioning. But that does explain some things, like why your arm isn’t receiving messages. You’re not from around here, right?” 

Rhys shook his head. 

“Not exactly.” he agreed. 

“So, it looks like your stuff isn’t quite compatible with the systems Pandora is running out here, so you’re not getting updates and messages. It’s a simple enough fix, gimme a sec.” 

Gaige spun around and got down on the floor, pulling out beaten cardboard boxes and crates filled with odd looking tech, tearing through it with reckless abandon as she tossed what she didn’t want to the side. 

Rhys cringed, hearing various instruments crash to the side, and on a few occasions he narrowly dodged being hit in the head with some sort of obsolete device. 

“Here we are!” Gaige said, grabbing some sort of weird box like object. She pressed her hands against its middle, cracking into the plastic case and split it open, exposing wires and pieces of motherboard. Sparks crackled, and Gaige let out a small scream as electricity raced over her arms. 

Rhys was terrified. 

Gaige looked up and saw his expression. 

“Don’t worry about me,” she said, snapping off a small chip from the inside causing the sparks to fade away, “I’ve done much worse to myself.” 

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” Rhys mumbled to himself as Gaige stood up presenting the chip in her hand with a gleeful expression. 

“Here we are; I told you I never got to play with working Atlas tech, but there’s plenty of broken stuff that should integrate quite nicely.”

“And you promise you’re not trying to kill me?” Rhys asked. 

“And mess up my one chance to play with an Atlas toy? As if.” Gaige snorted. Rhys mulled over the implications of being referred to as being an ‘Atlas Toy’ while Gaige popped open the side of his arm and stuck the chip inside. Rhys gave a sharp his as his system accepted the new device. 

Testing compatibility: accepted  
New Systems: Unlocked  
Gortys: activated.  
Travel successful. 

Rhys blinked. Had he read that right? Gortys? What did she have to do with any of this? 

Before he had the chance to mull over it further his eye was suddenly flooded with new information, or rather information that he had tried to look up previously and wasn’t able to because he hadn’t integrated with the systems of this universe. He suddenly had access to information about trying to shoot skags (aim for the mouth, apparently), Sanctuary, Turtle Shields, Hyperion company, fighting techniques of various famous Vault Hunters. What made it particularly interesting is that he still wasn’t hooked up to the info from this world, a quick scan indicated that it was all coming from his original universe. 

Rhys sank down against the table, the implications sending him reeling. If he still had access to the other world’s systems- that meant there was still a link between them. A giggle rose from his throat. It meant that he and Fiona, somehow, could find a way home. They would still need help, and a lot of crazy expensive tech, but maybe they wouldn’t even need the Gortys from this world. It filled him with relief and excitement.

“Woah, are you okay?” Gaige asked. 

“Yeah.” he said, swallowing thickly, “Yeah I think I am.”

********************************************************************

Jack leaned forward on his arms, the whisky bottle thankfully forgotten as he listened to Fiona’s stories. She talked about her and Sasha’s childhood, growing up on the streets before being taken in by Felix. She talked about meeting Rhys and Sasha nearly tossing him out of the Caravan. 

Jack had laughed at that. Fiona bloomed with warmth. She liked watching the sadness leave his eyes the more he laughed, that just for the moment he could forget. She talked about Rhys’ hilarious attempts courting her sister, and Jack shook his head in amusement. 

“Sasha sounds incredible,” Jack mused. 

“She is. I would do anything for her.” Fiona said, “You know, I’ve always been almost a mother to her since she was what, 5? Bandaging her scraped knees, making sure she ate.” 

“Y’know, that was about Angel’s age when…” Jack trailed off and turned back to the whiskey bottle and glass. Fiona’s heart sank. 

She watched him pour the amber liquid, but before he could bring it to his lips she stopped him, covering the top with her hand. Jack slowly lowered the glass, his lip curling slightly.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. 

“No.” he snapped, then paused for a moment and said “It’s just been too long since I’ve even been able to speak to my little girl, and to suddenly hear her pain?”

“We’ll save her Jack, I promise. You, me, and Rhys.” she said.

Jack mulled over her words for a moment before looking up at her. 

“You think so?” 

Here, FIona saw more than Handsome Jack, more than Jack. She saw a broken man and father, clawing to save what little he had left in this world. 

She kissed him again. 

This one was more sudden, more of a shock. He clung to her, holding tight and fast, the last bastion between him and the darkness threatening to overtake him. He flooded her senses lingering on her mouth even after he had pulled away.

“Fiona, come back to my place with me?” he asked, a needful tugging at the edges of his words. Fiona recognized the unspoken meaning lying underneath the surface of what he was saying. 

“Yes,” She said, after sucking in a deep breath, “Yes, I would.” 

Jack was a surprisingly gentle lover, not at all what Fiona was expecting from the tyrant of Pandora. His kisses were sweet and kind, his hands soft as they roved along her body, making her arc into his touch. 

He took his time finding her pleasure before finding his own, and he still took it surprisingly slow, like each thrust chased away the darkness for just a moment more. Fiona ran a hand through his sweat-slick hair as he trembled on top of her, enjoying the way his muscles tightened through his climax and how his skin glistened in the dim light of his apartment.

After a moment, he rolled off of her, pulling off the condom and dumping it in the wastebasket by his bed before collapsing beside Fiona. She leaned in, running a finger along her chin and catching his mouth in a kiss. His lips were salty from the sweat, but still she pressed in close. 

There was an odd feeling in the air like the words left unspoken demanded to be uttered. Fiona bit her lip, unsure if she was the one who was supposed to say them. Her eyes flicked towards the door. She could leave right then, and those words wouldn’t have to be said, things could go back to the way they were. Leave it at one night stand and forget about it.

Jack was watching her carefully.

“You can leave, princess, I won’t be hurt.” he said. Or you can stay went unspoken, but heavily implied. 

With a deep sigh she relaxed beside him, and his arm wrapped around her naked body, holding her close.He started breathing deeply, and Fiona assumed he had fallen asleep until he started speaking. 

“...I’m not a kind partner.” he said quietly. Fiona stiffened, surprised that he was the one who spoke first. 

“I’m not a good man.” 

“I never thought you were.” Fiona said, and she thought she heard him chuckle.

“I’ve got a dark history, cupcake, and you’re gonna run into it. And one day, I may leave you behind.” 

“And one day, I will leave you.” she said, “I’ll go back home to my world.” 

Jack shifted so that he was looking into her face and ran his thumb along the bottom of her lip tenderly. 

“Yeah, you will. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge shout out to Regsregis (https://archiveofourown.org/users/regsregis/pseuds/regsregis) this chapter, mostly for helping for me to make some art for this bad boy. Please go check out her stuff! It means a lot!  
> Link for the Art: https://lastoftheorder.tumblr.com/post/188016570624/wonderful-art-that-visnomer-helped-me-with-for-my  
> Also consider this calm before the storm, we're gonna have a lot of fun together here soon. >:3  
> Thanks for reading! Toodles <3


	9. Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys makes a discovery and Jack helps him find answers.

Rhys had been trying to contact Fiona for hours, but he couldn’t get ahold of her. He even tried messaging Jack, but got no response. He wished Gaige had stayed rather than leaving soon after he had made the discovery to do some mission with another Vault Hunter so that he didn’t have to figure out all this crap on his own. 

He started asking around town, but no one had seen either Fiona or Jack. Rhys was beginning to grow desperate. He also didn’t know who to call since his contacts were all from another dimension and probably wouldn’t do him any good.

There was one contact that might just work, however. He saw the name stand out and pressed call. 

The call was answered quickly.

“Hey Rhys, I’d love to chat, but I’m kinda busy-” Tim began.

“I need your help. I can’t find Fiona or Jack”

“Geez, I’m sorry Rhys, but seriously I’m- HEY MAYA WATCH OUT FOR THAT BADASS!” Explosions and gunfire went off in the background and Rhys could hear distant screaming over the com. 

“But this is really big and-”

Tim cut him short

“Look, Rhys, I’ll give you Jack’s apartment address and you can start there, Goddamn it hold on” more gunfire erupted, “And if you still can’t find them, when I get back you can tell me all about it. Maybe over drinks at Moxxi’s? Gotta go!”

The echo call ended with a harsh click from Tim’s end. Rhys ran a frustrated hand through his hair before hearing his comm beep. 

Sure enough, Tim had added a small waypoint to Jack’s apartment onto Rhys echo. Rhys was doubtful, but it was the best lead he had all night. The waypoint pointed to a different area of Sanctuary than where Rhys and Fiona had been staying. It was a slightly nicer part of town, which wasn’t saying much considering the state of the city as a whole, but there were fewer red stains on the walls and less casual trash piles. 

The buildings here also looked like they were designed to house actual crew quarters, not just other areas outfitted to cram in a to of people. It made sense, Rhys supposed. After all, Jack was a genuine Vault Hunter and had proved his worth to the Crimson Raiders, although it still irked him deep inside; Handsome Jack didn’t deserve nice things.

Rhys inwardly cursed himself. This wasn’t Handsome Jack. This was just Jack; an ally. And Fiona wanted Rhys to trust him. He wasn’t comfortable with it, but he would do it for her. 

Rhys entered into a small, arched building and down a set of ragged metal stairs into the core of the ship, stopping on an early level and went through the darkened hallway until he came to the door Tim had marked for him, knocking on it.

There was a rustling from behind the door, and after a few moments Jack opened it, his chest bare and hair mussed, and his jeans looked hastily tugged on. 

“Oh, heya Rhysie, what do you need?” he asked, running a hand through his mussed hair. 

“Jack, have you seen Fiona?” 

Jack cocked an eyebrow and turned to his side to look into his quarters, giving Rhys a clear view.

“I don’t know, hey, Fiona, have I seen you?” he asked. 

Fiona was hastily buttoning her shirt on the bed of the center of the room. 

“Asshole,” She said, grabbing a shirt off the ground to throw at Jack who only laughed. 

Rhys grew pale.

“WHAT THE HELL!” he shrieked suddenly. Fiona surged forward and covered his mouth. 

“Shut up, Rhys, you don’t have to yell!” she said. Rhys bit her hand and she recoiled. 

“YOU went and SLEPT with him!?” Rhys said, his mouth gaping open, a look of betrayal sweeping his features. 

“Geez, Rhys. Chill out.” Jack rolled his eyes, “We’re both adults.” 

“Rhys, we’ll talk about this later.” she said, “now is there something that you needed?”

Rhys’ mouth snapped shut as he tried to remember what he had come here for in the first place. Fiona crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him, while Jack just chuckled and smoothed out a stray strand of Fiona’s hair. 

Rhys wanted to make more accusations, to yell at Fiona and have her explain why she had just slept with Jack, but this was Fiona. He trusted her. She knew what she was doing. He closed his eyes, willing the image of the two of them together to disappear from his mind, to figure out what he had meant to say. 

“Gortys.” he said. 

Fiona uncrossed her arms. 

“What about Gortys?” she asked. 

“I- my arm! We’re still linked to Gortys...or something!” Rhys gasped out. Fiona grabbed his mechanical arm and looked at it. 

“How?” she asked. 

“I don’t know, but something about ‘traveling successfully’, here I can show you.” His excitement was building up again, letting him forget, at least for the moment, the implication of what Jack and Fiona had done. 

“Gortys, that’s that giant robot vault key thingy thing you were talking about?” Jack asked, and Fiona nodded. 

“Yeah, she’s the one who opened the portal to the vault, and if Rhys is still getting updates it means there’s a way back.” Fiona said. 

“That’s what I was thinking too.” Rhys nodded. 

“So you might have a way back home.” Jack scratched his chin around the edges of his mask, “Does that mean you’re gonna leave without helping me?” he teased. 

“Of course not, Jack.” Fiona assured him, and the look they exchanged was positively sickening to Rhys. 

Jack seemed to sense Rhys’ discomfort and clapped his hands loudly to garner attention. 

“Anyways, I made a promise to you guys! Let’s get that started, shall we? I’ve got a few favors to call in with an eridian specialist. If anyone can figure out what happened with your crazy portal and whatever ol’ Atlas did, it’s her.” 

Jack began stepping out of the apartment. 

“PUT A SHIRT ON!” Rhys and Fiona exclaimed in unison. 

“Fine, ya prudes! Veil this beauty” Jack threw up his hands before bending over and picking up the shirt Fiona had thrown at him off of the floor. He slammed the door behind him, leaving Rhys and Fiona in the hallway alone together.

“Why does he need privacy to put on clothes?” Fiona mumbled under her breath, shaking her head. 

“Fiona?” Rhys said, crossing his arms, “What the hell happened? Do you know how worried I was when you didn’t answer, and instead I find you with him.”

“Rhys-” Fiona said. 

“No, I know, you’re both consenting adults, and this is your life, or whatever, but do you know how dangerous this is?” Rhys hissed, “I know you asked me to trust him, and I’m doing my best for your sake, but this? This is something else. I know what he’s like… I don’t want you to mess up like I did.” 

Fiona reached over and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a tight hug. 

“It’ll be okay, Rhys. Nothing’s going to happen with you watching over me.” she smiled.

“It better not.” he said, “Sasha would never forgive me.” 

Fiona laughed a little and pulled back her embrace as the door opened.

Jack strolled out, fully dressed and styled. He smoothed back his hair, catching the grey streak and pushing it back into place. 

“We ready to go, kiddos? Now that you’re all done talking about feelings and crap.” 

Fiona glared a little, and the two followed Jack out of the ship to the surface of Sanctuary and through the streets. 

“As a warning, Tannis is a little freaky. And by a little I mean she’s bat-shit crazy but she’s good at what you do. She will pull out pieces of your hair as well, just fight the urge to slap her, okay? And after we finish with this, you two can start helping out with my project.” 

“Saving your daughter, right?” Rhys said. 

Jack didn’t turn his head but made a confirmative grunt. Fiona caught Rhys’ eye and made a motion for him to drop that topic. He mouthed the word ‘sorry’ and they continued on their way. 

Tannis had a laboratory as an offshoot of the Crimson Raiders headquarters, the entrance only accessible through another building. 

“Tannis used to just be in the headquarters, then she managed to convince Roland to give her some extra space, what with the Vault Key and everything.” 

“Vault Key?” Fiona asked, her voice flat. Jack shrugged. 

“Yeah, but that thing is dead; won’t even glow. Tannis figures it needs some sort of catalyst to recharge it, but it’s still slowly gathering energy. But right now it’s low on our list of priorities with Hyperion on the horizon.” 

Jack knocked on a steel reinforced door. 

“Come in if you must!” a light voice called out, “Although though if you wish to turn around and leave, I will not discourage you from that course of action.” 

Jack grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. The woman inside, Tannis, gave an odd squawk when she saw him.

“Oh, Jack, what an unexpected surprise. Please gently remove my fragile laboratory equipment from the table before you proceed to completely ravange me against it.” Tannis began unbuttoning the front of her shirt. 

“Tannis, not now,” Jack hissed, “As much as I appreciate the offer can’t you see I brought guests, pumpkin?” He gestured to Rhys and Fiona.

Tannis shrugged. 

“I just assumed you were finally giving into your voyeuristic tendencies.” she said, and then sighed, “If we’re not about to participate in wild, carnal copulation I suppose I should ask what I can help you with.” 

“My voyeuristic whats?” Jack began and then shook his head, dismissing his thought, “We need info on Vaults. Rhysie here seems to be receiving messages through a vault to another dimension, even though the Vault is supposedly closed. Do you have any answers to that?” 

“Dimensional traveler, hm? I will have to run a series of tests on this “Rhysie’ here. The rest of you may leave. I will release him when I’m satisfied.” Tannis said. 

Rhys mouthed “help me” to Fiona, who only grinned and waved as she left with Jack.

“So, Legs doesn’t seem to be pleased.” Jack observed as they leaned against the wall outside of the Crimson Raider’s headquarters. 

“He’ll get over it.” Fiona said, “So what comes next? How do we help you?” 

“As soon as I find out where they’re keeping my daughter, we’re gonna raid them. Until then, I can use your help trying to find her. Legs looks like he’s good with tech, and you seem pretty good at handling yourself in battle. Simple as that. Fulfil a few quests of mine here and there, and be ready for the big fight.” Jack said. 

Fiona looked carefully at his face, wondering what secrets he was still hiding, but she couldn’t ask him outright, betray the fragile trust they had formed. 

“What will you do when you get your daughter back?” she asked, hoping that was a safe enough territory. 

Jack snorted. 

“I’m going to make Duncan and Tassiter pay.” he said. There was a dark snarl in his voice that scared Fiona just a little bit, but it also piqued her curiosity. 

“Who’s Duncan?” Fiona asked. 

“A stain on the world.” Jack said, “That bastard was head of Hyperion Security and Tassiter’s dog. I didn’t think he would be a threat until he stumbled on my wife’s review of the...turret incident. A hyperion turret went haywire, and she wasn’t as good as lying as I was. A slip of the tongue, she said something, corrected herself, but it was enough for Duncan and his team to figure it out; I had a siren daughter.” 

“I’m so sorry, Jack.” Fiona said

“I’d love to torture that asshole the same way he tortured me, then I want to get my arms around his filthy throat.” Jack said, his hands clenching as if Duncan was there before him. 

Fiona took an involuntary step back which made Jack stop. 

“Sorry, pumpkin, I told you I wasn’t a good man.” he said with a shrug and a half smile. 

“Better than some. I know I’m no saint.” she said, “I was once asked what I would do if someone killed Sasha.” 

“What did you say?” 

“Doesn’t matter what I said. I’m no stranger to lying.” she shrugged.

“And the truth?” Jack asked. 

“I’ll keep my secrets, and you keep yours.” Fiona said. Jack’s eyes flashed. He crowded her against the wall, his mouth roving the hot skin of her neck. 

“Damn, you’re hot, kitten.” he murmured against her flesh and she arched her head back. 

“Jack, we’re in public!” 

“Shush, pumpkin, I’m just fulfilling my ‘voyeuristic tendencies’”

Fiona laughed and began kissing in return. 

***************************  
Rhys walked out and found Fiona and Jack making out against the wall.

“What the? SERIOUSLY?!” he scolded. Fiona pulled away and wiped her mouth, shrugging. 

“Sorry.” She said a little sheepishly. 

“I’m not.” Jack grinned. 

“Is this what it’s going to be like with you two from now on?” Rhys demanded, looking between the two of them angrily.

“Rhys-” Fiona began, and he shook his head, waving his arm dismissively. 

“You know what, I’m being chill about this- it doesn’t matter.” He breathed in deeply and out again, then spoke, “So, Tannis told me that she believes that the Gortys project is still active, even if the vault isn’t. The good news is that we don’t need to put together the Gortys project in this world to reawaken the vault, the bad news is that we’ll need a hell of a lot of power to do it; eridium, siren power stuff.”

“Good thing we happen to be on a planet filled with sirens, then.” Fiona said.

“We’d also have to build a huge power converter,” Rhys said. 

“I can certainly help you with that part.” Jack agreed, “As long as you help me with what I need. I’ve got a few techies that owe me favors, and I know how to get a few, uh, sirens to help you. Like Lilith. I happen to know where she’s been hiding nowadays.” he tugged at the collar of his shirt. 

“Then let’s get started!” Rhys said, excited at the prospect of finally returning home. Fiona reached out and squeezed his hand with a soft smile. 

Before they could say anything, Tim and Maya came around from the edge of the alleyway, calling Jack’s name. Both were covered in gunpowder and blood, breathing heavily. Tim bent over, gasping for breath, holding up an echo log. Jack snatched it greedily. 

“Is this it? Did you find it?” Jack asked. Tim shook his head. 

“No, but it’s a lead; Info shipments to one of Duncan’s underlings. It may have Angel’s location.” 

“But you’re not going to like who the underling is” Maya said. Jack glanced at Tim’s face who nodded, silently nodding in confirmation. Jack’s lips curled in disgust as he realized who she meant.

“Nisha,” He said in disgust, “It’s about time we paid that bitch a visit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so friggin depressed and busy guys you have no idea. This will probably be the last update of the year. We'll see.


End file.
